Another switch in the number one position of the women’s FIVB Beach Volleyball World Ranking occurred with Sunday’s update as Latvia’s Tina Graudina & Anastasija Samoilova climbed back up to the top. Thanks to the expiration of 2023 Joao Pessoa Elite16 points, previous leaders Carol Solberg & Barbara Seixas of Brazil lost some ground again and handed the status of the world’s number one team back to the Latvians.
Beach Pro Tour
Yet again, Tina & Anastasija return as world’s number one team
Chennai Challenge semifinalists Paulikiene & Raupelyte reach career-high 11th place in the World Ranking
Published 09:57, 26 Nov 2024
Latvia’s Tina & Anastasija
Carol & Barbara finished runners-up at last year’s Joao Pessoa event and with the 1,100 points collected no longer counting, their 460 points from the Gstaad Elite16 this year stepped in as the team’s eighth best result over the past 365 days, so they net-lost 640 points to a new total of 6,580 points. Meanwhile, Tina & Anastasija’s fifth place in Joao Pessoa had brought them 760 points and with their expiration, they had the 600 points from EuroBeachVolley 2024 in the Netherlands come in as their eighth best score. That meant that after a net loss of just 160 points, the Latvian duo emerged on top again on a total of 6,620 points, or 40 clear of Carol & Barbara. Since Tina & Anastasija topped the World Ranking for the first time, taking over from reigning Olympic champions Ana Patricia Ramos & Eduarda Santos Lisboa (Duda) of Brazil on October 14, they have alternated with Carol & Barbara as the number one team. Each of the Latvians’ previous two periods on top of the chart lasted only a week.
The expiration of Joao Pessoa points also caused the dropping of China’s Xue Chen & Xia Xinyi and USA’s Kristen Nuss & Taryn Kloth out of the top 10, with their spots among the best 10 taken over by Switzerland’s Esmee Bobner & Zoe Verge-Depre and USA’s Terese Cannon & Megan Kraft.
Meanwhile, last week’s Chennai Challenge finalists Maryna Hladun & Tetiana Lazarenko of Ukraine and Hailey Harward & Kylie Kuyava-De Berg of the United States both climbed to the top 40. The Ukrainian pair matched their previous best 36th place from August of this year, while the American duo jumped five spots up from their previous high from last week to number 39.
Paris Olympians Monika Paulikiene & Aine Raupelyte of Lithuania, who finished fourth in Chennai, are now touching the top 10, climbing to 11th place for the first time. Their previous best placement was number 15 in October.
The expiration of old points caused some changes to the men’s top 10 as well. Top-ranked David Ahman & Jonatan Hellvig of Sweden and second-placed Anders Mol & Christian Sorum of Norway kept their positions, but Germany’s Nils Ehlers & Clemens Wickler jumped over Netherlands’ Stefan Boermans & Yorick de Groot into number three. Italy’s Samuele Cottafava & Paolo Nicolai dropped three positions down to number 11, allowing Cuba’s Noslen Diaz & Jorge Alayo to ascend to number eight, matching their previous high from October.
Chennai Challenge winners Jacob Holting Nilsson & Elmer Andersson climbed to a new high for the Swedish teenagers, leaping 18 spots up to number 43. Runners-up Leon Luini & Ruben Penninga, who have played only three qualifying tournaments together since they reunited this summer, moved up to number 129. The Dutch duo has certainly known better days in the World Ranking. Its best placement in number 13 dates back to August 2022. Chennai bronze medallists Philipp Waller & Timo Hammarberg of Austria, who have also made three qualifying appearances since they teamed up in August, reached the top 100 for the first time as a pair, storming into number 86 after last week’s podium.
