Tepic winners Hughes & Cheng climb another 20 spots to get close to top 20
Mariafe in action during the bronze medal match in Tepic
With the second Elite16 tournament of the 2023 Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour season in Tepic having taking place over the weekend and the points from last year’s inaugural Elite16 event in Rosarito dropping out of consideration, some major changes in the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Ranking drew attention as the chart was updated on Monday. Closest to the top, Tepic men’s winners David Ahman & Jonatan Hellvig rose to the top three for the first time in their career, while women’s bronze medallists Taliqua Clancy & Mariafe Artacho Del Solar climbed to number two.
Earning 1,000 points with their third place in Tepic, but also dropping their ninth highest within the last 365 days, the 760 points from their Kusadasi Challenge silver last year, Clancy & Mariafe netted 240 to improve to a new total of 7,280 points, enough to overtake Brazil’s Barbara Seixas & Carol Solberg (7,220) and previous number two Katja Stam & Raisa Schoon of the Netherlands (now fourth on 7,000) into the second place. This is Clancy & Mariafe’s highest ranking since the start of the Beach Pro Tour.
The Aussies stand 1,620 points below ranking leaders Eduarda Santos Lisboa (Duda) & Ana Patricia Ramos of Brazil, who took silver and 1,100 points in Mexico last week, netting 340 towards their new total of 8,900 points.
Tepic winners Sara Hughes & Kelly Cheng of the United States, who have now earned four gold medals out of six Beach Pro Tour appearances since their reunion in the fall, increased their total to 4,560 points to ascend 20 spots and reach a new high 22nd place.
Italy’s Marta Menegatti & Valentina Gottardi, who started from the qualifiers to reach the semis and finish fourth in Mexico, picked up 900 points and jumped 11 positions up to number 11.
Canada’s Melissa Humana-Paredes & Brandie Wilkerson, on the other hand, made a huge leap of 75 positions up to number 90 after finishing fifth in Tepic, their second Beach Pro Tour appearance as a team.
Ahman overcomes Mol’s block in the Tepic final
While the runners-up in the men’s competition in Mexico, Anders Mol & Christian Sorum of Norway, kept their number one position in the World Ranking on a new total of 9,220 points, the team that beat them in the final, Sweden’s Ahman & Hellvig, rose to number three, five positions up from their previous high, the eighth place they had been occupying since after their Doha Elite16 silver in early February. The Swedish jump-setters’ new total of 6,980 points is just 60 points below that of second-ranked Alexander Brouwer & Robert Meeuwsen of the Netherlands, who registered a fifth-place finish in Tepic. Ahman & Hellvig are also 80 points clear of fourth-ranked Brazilians Andre Stein & George Wanderley, who failed to make it past the qualifiers in Mexico.
Tepic bronze medallists Clemens Wickler & Nils Ehlers of Germany netted 700 points and improved four spots to number 10, their highest-ever ranking as a pair.
After they started touring again as a duo, Dutchmen Stefan Boermans & Yorick de Groot also started climbing back up the World Ranking. Following De Groot’s injury, the former world’s number one team had dropped to number 90, but after the La Paz Challenge silver and the fourth place in Tepic, they made their way back up to number 63.
Among the four men’s teams that reached the Tepic quarterfinals to finish fifth in the final standings, Italy’s Adrian Carambula & Alex Ranghieri gained 18 positions to number 37, their compatriots Paolo Nicolai & Samuele Cottafava moved up a spot to number five, Brouwer & Meeuwsen stayed in second, while Czechia’s Ondrej Perusic & David Schweiner descended by two positions to number eight.
FIVB Beach Volleyball World Ranking – Women
FIVB Beach Volleyball World Ranking – Men
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