Åhman and Hellvig second place in the Olympic Rankings
2023.12.01
Åhman and Hellvig back to second place in the Olympic Rankings
In beach volleyball, nothing will matter more to international players in the next eight months than getting into the Paris 2024 Olympics. There are a ton of intriguing storylines involving the best teams in the world that are created by the competition to be a part of sports’ biggest event.sportzlanka.com
Throughout the entire time, we will be tracking the Olympic qualification process. Additionally, we will offer some articles that will explain how it operates and give you an introduction to some of the sports stars who are vying for something exceptional on their Road to Paris.
The FIVB Olympic Rankings were significantly impacted by the final Elite16 event of the 2023 Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour, which was held in João Pessoa, Brazil, and concluded on Sunday.
The rankings are based on the total points that teams have earned based on their best 12 results in international and continental tournaments played up until June 10, 2024, when the top 17 men’s and women’s teams will guarantee a spot in the Games. These rankings will determine 17 of the 24 teams that will compete in the Olympics in Paris the following year.twitter.com
Though there was some noteworthy movement among the women as well, the three European men’s teams that made it to the podium were undoubtedly the ones that strengthened their positions in the most recent Rankings update.
The recent Olympic champions Anders Mol and Christian Sørum of Norway, who have 9,460 points and did not compete in Brazil, are only second behind the two-time European champions David Åhman and Jonatan Hellvig of Sweden, who won 1,200 points with their victory in Brazil, bringing their total to 8,920 and placing them in second place.sportzlanka.com
The podium finish in Brazil brought Italians Paolo Nicolai and Samuele Cottafava one step closer to Paris, even though they lost the second spot in the rankings to the Swedish team. Despite being in third place now, they have 8,440 points, 700 more than they had in the previous tournament.
Although Yorick de Groot and Stefan Boermans of the Netherlands are still outside the qualification zone, their third-place finish was crucial to their chances of making it to the Olympics. With 5,440 points, the two, who participated in just seven events during the qualification period, are currently in 20th place, just 1,000 points behind the final team that would have qualified if the deadline had been today.
With the 1,000 points earned in Brazil, they also reduced the distance between themselves and the two Dutch teams who are ranked higher than them: Steven van de Velde/Matthew Immers (14th – 6,480) and Alexander Brouwer/Robert Meeuwsen (seventh – 7,560 points). Boermans and de Groot have a good chance of overtaking one of the teams before the qualification period ends because only two teams from the same nation can advance to the Olympics. Both teams have twelve results under their belts already.
After visiting Brazil, Austrians Julian Hörl and Alexander Horst also came home in far better shape than when they arrived. With 7,060 points, the two moved up from 12th to ninth place in João Pessoa, where they finished ninth.Nils Ehlers/Clemens Wickler of Germany (fifth place, 7,740), Pablo Herrera/Adrián Gavira of Spain (eighth place, 7,360), Adrian Carambula/Alex Ranghieri of Italy (fifth place, 6,920), and Michal Bryl/Bartosz Łosiak of Poland (fifth place, 6,480) are also inside the qualification zone.
Among the women, the four European duos that made it to the quarterfinals in Brazil moved up in the Rankings with the 760 points they earned. Dutch Raisa Schoon and Katja went from fifth to fourth (8,240 points), Latvians Tina Graudina and Anastasija Samoilova improved from tenth to eighth (7,220), Germans Svenja Müller and Cinja Tillmann progressed from 13th to ninth (6,900) and French Lézana Placette and Alexia Richard moved from 16th to 14th (6,180).
Tokyo Olympic bronze medalists Joana Heidrich and Anouk Vergé-Dépré also made an important movement in the Swiss internal battle for two spots in Paris. Although they probably wanted more than a 13th-place finish in Brazil, the 460 points that came with it elevated their total to 6,640, making them pass compatriots Nina Brunner and Tanja Hüberli, who have 6,340 with nine finishes, and enter the qualification zone in 12th place.
Other European teams inside the qualification zone are Italy’s Marta Menegatti/Valentina Gottardi (seventh – 7,440 points), Switzerland’s Esmée Böbner/Zoé Vergé-Dépré (11th – 6,760), Spain’s Daniela Álvarez/Tania Moreno (13th – 6,180), Finland’s Taru Lathi/Niina Ahtiainen (15th – 6,060), Lithuania’s Monika Paulikiene/Aine Raupelyte (16th – 5,980) and Poland’s Jagoda Gruszczynska/Aleksandra Wachowicz (17th – 5,680).
More changes to the Olympic Rankings will happen after the conclusion of this week’s Challenge event in Nuvali, the Philippines
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