Despite their young age, the Swedes already shook up the beach scene with their distinctive style of play when they won the 2022 European Championships in Munich. In the fall of the same year, they confirmed their rising fame with a silver medal at the Elite16 in Cape Town.
This triumph continued with silver and gold at the first Elite16 tournaments in 2023. Even after a break due to injury, nothing could stop Åhman/Hellvig at the Elite16 events in Hamburg and João Pessoa. Their victory at the A1 CEV EuroBeachVolley Vienna 2023 was a significant milestone. At the World Championships in Mexico, they narrowly missed out on first place and won the silver medal. At the end of the season, they won the gold medal at the Tour Finals in Doha in a thrilling final match against their fellow Scandinavian rivals Mol/Sørum. The young duo's journey in 2024 promises to be a captivating one!
For some time now, the two Brazilian powerhouses, Ana Patrícia Ramos and Eduarda Santos Lisboa (Duda), have been firmly established at the top of international beach volleyball – and rightfully so. No other women's team can boast such consistency. In 2022 and 2023, the duo made it into the top ten at every Elite16 tournament. Remarkably, their fifth-place finish in Montreal 2023 was their weakest result of the season – and that speaks volumes!
The gold medal at the home tournament in João Pessoa 2023 marked their seventh on the World Tour. This impressive statistic is undeniable proof that Ana Patrícia and Duda are THE women's team to beat in 2024. It will be interesting to see whether the Brazilian temperament will continue to dominate the beach volleyball stage.
In 2023, the Beach Volley Vikings Anders Mol and Christian Sørum once again asserted their dominance on the Beach Volleyball World Tour, claiming three gold, three silver, and one bronze medal. These achievements catapulted them to the top of the world rankings.
Despite their overall success, Mol and Sørum experienced some surprising defeats: They were unexpectedly eliminated in the quarterfinals of the A1 CEV EuroBeachVolley 2023 in Vienna, where they had previously been unbeaten in four consecutive tournaments. A similar fate awaited them at the World Championships in Mexico, where they had to settle for fifth place. The defeat at the Tour Finals in Doha against Åhman/Hellvig underlines the fact that the competition is not sleeping.
The 2024 season therefore remains exciting: will the pair's number one spot be shaken, or will Mol/Sørum expand their medal collection?
The Klinger sisters, Austria's undisputed frontrunners, once again showed their immense potential in the 2023 season - not only nationally but internationally as well.
With impressive top-ten finishes in Espinho and Edmonton at Challenger level, the second-highest level of the World Tour, they collected important points for the 2024 Olympic qualifiers in Paris. Although the home European Championships on Danube Island did not go quite as planned, they were able to bring the 2023 season to a glittering close with a gold medal at the Futures tournament in Poland and the top spot on the podium at the Austrian National Championships.
It seems to be only a matter of time before the two sisters celebrate such successes on the big stage of the Beach World Tour.
Shortly after the two Americans played together again at the end of the 2022 season, it was clear that this team has the potential to achieve great things on the tour. Last season, the two US women crowned themselves with the gold medal at the indoor spectacle in Tepic and, as a pinnacle, they secured the world title in Mexico - the first for an American women's team in 14 years.
It will be exciting to see how the up-and-coming players perform in the 2024 season. Who knows, maybe they will follow in the footsteps of Walsh/May-Treanor and Klineman/Ross and win the fifth gold medal for a US women's team at the Olympic Games.
In 2023, Austrian beach aces Alexander Horst and Julian Hörl not only demonstrated why they are Austria's number one men's team, but also underlined their place among the international beach elite. Despite a challenging pre-season due to Julian Hörl's shoulder surgery, they secured the bronze medal at the Challenger in Saquarema early on. Other highlights of the season included a sensational fourth place at the Elite16 tournament in Paris and a silver medal at the Challenger in Espinho.
Although the placings at the World Championships in Mexico and the A1 CEV EuroBeachVolley 2023 in front of the home crowd on Danube Island were not the top placings expected, the duo is on a promising path to qualifying for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. The two veterans face exciting challenges on the big world stage, and it remains to be seen how they will perform there.