Beach Volleyball World Championships Tlaxcala 2023 - News

Hughes/Cheng (USA) vs. Nuss/Kloth (USA) - Semifinals #7485150

Hughes & Cheng celebrate their semifinal win over Nuss & Kloth at Tlaxcala 2023

The world’s premier beach volleyball competition is now over and those who excelled at the Tlaxcala 2023 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships last week also enjoyed important gains in the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Ranking. The new women’s world champions Sara Hughes & Kelly Cheng of the United States, for example, reclaimed the number two spot from their compatriots Taryn Kloth & Kristen Nuss, while the new men’s titleholders Ondrej Perusic & David Schweiner of Czechia rocketed 11 positions up to return among the top 10 for the first time since early July.

Hughes & Cheng picked up a nice 1,600 ranking points with their gold medals in Mexico and as their ninth best score, 760 points from an Elite16 fifth place, is now out of the equation, they net gained 840 points towards a new total of 8,320, or 180 points clear of bronze medallists Kloth & Nuss. The latter collected 1,280 points in Mexico, but also had to drop 760, which meant that their new total of 8,140 was only good enough for the third position in the chart. There was a switch in the opposite direction just two weeks ago, when Paris Elite16 silver medallists Kloth & Nuss took over the second place from Hughes & Cheng.

Ranking leaders Eduarda Santos Lisboa (Duda) & Ana Patricia Ramos of Brazil finished runners-up in Tlaxcala, netting 440 of the 1,440 points that came with their silver. They are now up to a 9,540-point total, but with a clearance of “only” 1,220 points from the second place.

With the three World Championship medallists also occupying the top three positions in the World Ranking, it was only fitting that the fourth-placed team in Tlaxcala, Australia’s Taliqua Clancy & Mariafe Artacho Del Solar, climbed a spot to number four in the chart (on 7,180 points), overtaking Canada’s Melissa Humana-Paredes & Brandie Wilkerson, who settled for a fifth place in Mexico and dropped to number five in the ranking.

Among the other three quarterfinalists, who finished fifth at the World Championship, Switzerland’s Nina Brunner & Tanja Huberli enjoyed the highest leap of four positions up to number eight. Brazil’s Taina Bigi & Victoria Lopes gained two spots to rise to number 14, while Netherlands’ Katja Stam & Raisa Schoon improved from seventh to sixth, overtaking Brazil’s Barbara Seixas & Carol Solberg.

On the men’s side, new world champions Perusic & Schweiner pocketed the entire 1,600 points from Tlaxcala as it was only the sixth qualifying tournament for them over the last 365 days. Their new total of 6,260 points propelled them from number 19 back up to number eight, their highest ranking since July 10.

World Championship silver medallists David Ahman & Jonatan Hellvig of Sweden stayed put as the number two team in the World Ranking, but shortened the distance to number one Andres Mol & Christian Sorum to only 700 points, from the previous week’s 1,380. The Norwegians’ fifth place in Tlaxcala was not good enough to join their top eight qualifying results, so the Beachvolley Vikings’ total of 9,100 points did not change.

Meanwhile, USA’s Miles Partain & Andrew Benesh made their way to the World Ranking’s top three for the first time, 1,300 points short of Ahman & Hellvig. The Americans finished fifth at the World Championship and shifted one position up the chart from their previous number four, jumping over Brazil’s Andre Stein & George Wanderley. In other important moves within the top 10, pairs that finished ninth in Mexico also improved their positions. Italy’s Adrian Carambula & Alex Ranghieri ascended two spots to number four, also above George & Andre, while Germany’s Clemens Wickler & Nils Ehlers shifted up from seventh to sixth, surpassing Qatar’s Cherif Younousse & Ahmed Tijan.

All the other members of the Tlaxcala 2023 men’s top eight made substantial upward leaps in the World Ranking. Bronze medallists Michal Bryl & Bartosz Losiak of Poland rose eight positions to number 12, while fourth-placed Trevor Crabb & Theodore Brunner of USA climbed four spots to number 20. Fifth-placed Stefan Boermans & Yorick de Groot of the Netherlands made a seven-spot leap to number 27, while the remaining quarterfinalists, Pedro Solberg & Gustavo Carvalhaes (Guto) of Brazil, jumped six positions to number 16.