In 2023, Austrian beach volleyball stars Alexander Horst and Julian Hörl not only demonstrated why they are Austria's number one men's team but also cemented their place in the international beach elite. Despite a challenging season preparation due to Julian Hörl's shoulder surgery, they secured the bronze medal early on at the Challenger in Saquarema. Other season highlights included a sensational fourth place at the Elite16 tournament in Paris and the silver medal at the Challenger in Espinho.

For the two veterans, the journey on the grand world stage at the Olympic Games in Paris ended in the group stage. They lost their last game to the Canadians Schachter/Dearing 16:21, 15:21. In their first two matches, Hörl/Horst were defeated by the Brazilians Evandro/Arthur and the reigning world champions from the Czech Republic, David Schweiner/Ondrej Perusic. At the A1 Beach Pro Vienna, they managed to secure ninth place.

Not many beach volleyball players can call themselves double European champions, one of the few among them are Latvians Anastasija Samoilova (formerly Kravčenoka) and Tina Graudina.

After their first European Championship title in 2019, the two were also able to beat 2021 European Champions Hüberli/Brunner in 2022. At the 2023 European Championships in Vienna, however, they had to settle for ninth place after being shut out by Alvarez/Moreno.

As the top-seeded women's team at the A1 Beach Pro Vienna 2024, the Latvian beach stars aimed to improve their results at this year's tournament in Austria’s capital before heading to their second Olympic Games in Paris. In the Olympic warm-up event in Vienna, they secured ninth place. At the Eiffel Tower Stadium, the Latvians lost in the quarterfinals to the eventual Olympic champions Ana Patricia/Duda with a score of 0:2 (16:21, 10:21), but still secured a respectable 5th place.

For years, the Beach Volley Vikings Anders Mol and Christian Sørum have represented the top of the Beach Volleyball World Tour and in 2023 secured a total of three gold, three silver and one bronze medal. This impressive record deservedly catapulted them to first place in 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.

At the A1 Beach Pro Vienna, they reached the top of the podium in Austria’s capital for the fifth time. At the Olympic Games in Paris, the Norwegians overwhelmed their opponents from Qatar, Cherif/Ahmed, in the bronze medal match in two sets (21:13, 21:16). The Vikings once again made a strong statement, especially considering Anders Mol had recently returned to the sand after his foot injury.

Back in 2013, the sisters began their volleyball career together. Despite also existing talent on the ski slope, the two decided against the family sport and started with the volleyball academy.

They also proved their impressive talent during their time at a US college, where they reached the final of the NCAA, the highest level of college sport. The pair's rapid rise on the big stage is also unstoppable and ended with their first victory on the World Tour in the 2022 season. Especially in front of a home crowd, the two seem even more inspired and have always been able to go one better than their previous performances – for example, they became Austrian champions in 2023. On the international stage, they also finished in top 10 spots at five different Challenge tournaments last season.

Svenja Müller and Cinja Tillmann have formed a duo since 2021 and since their first Elite16 gold in Ostrava 2022 at the latest, practically nothing has stood in their way.

A short time later, they secured the bronze medal at the World Championships in Rome and went on to become German Champions. Their run of success continued in 2023 with another German title, a bronze medal in Ostrava and four more top ten finishes at Elite16 tournaments.

So it’s no wonder that they are now at the top of the German women's duos and secured their second Elite16 gold at the A1 Beach Pro Vienna 2024. Through their world ranking points, they also qualified for the Olympic Games in Paris for the first time, alongside their compatriots Ludwig/Lippmann. There, the German champions faced the two-time European champions Tina/Anastasija from Latvia in a nerve-wracking Round of 16. In a thrilling three-set match, they ultimately lost 1-2 (13-21, 21-17, 16-18).

Switzerland's Anouk Vergé-Dépré and Joana Mäder, both former indoor volleyball players, have been a beach team since 2017 and the scene would no longer be the same without them.

In their very first year as partners, they made it to ninth place at the World Championships and won the home title at the Swiss Championships. Their other career highlights also include the 2020 European title, which they earned in the final against Behrens/Tillmann in Jurmala. They also finished third at the 2021 Olympics. However, they fell just short of qualifying for 2024 due to a lack of points in the world rankings and were only just overtaken by compatriots Esmée/Zoé.

Their successes in Vienna include a fourth place at the 2023 European Championships, where they narrowly lost the final podium spot to Ludwig/Lippmann. In the 2024 season, they improved on this and took second place at the A1 Beach Pro Vienna 2024.

The Polish top duo of Michał Bryl and Bartosz Łosiak have only been playing together since 2022, but have already shown great talent during this time.

Together, they finished fourth at the European Championships in Munich, where they were beaten by Beach Volley Vikings Mol/Sørum in two sets. They suffered a similar fate at the A1 Beach Pro Vienna 2024, where they again lost to the Norwegians in the final. However, their silver medal from this Elite16 tournament makes up nicely alongside gold from Hamburg 2022 and bronze from Uberlandia 2023.

Another highlight of this season was their participation in the Olympic Games in Paris, where they represented their homeland in beach volleyball as the only Polish duo. Although both had previously participated in the Olympic Games with other partners, they tried their luck as a duo for the first time in the French capital. They fought their way into the round of 16 as the runners-up in their group but had to concede defeat to the experienced Spaniards Herrera/Gavira with a score of 0:2 (21:23, 18:21).

Chilean cousins Marco and Esteban Grimalt have been playing together since 2011 and have enjoyed success at both South American and global level.

For example, they finished ninth at the 2019 World Championships and claimed a gold medal in the same year and a bronze medal at the 2023 Pan American Games. In 2022, they also won the Elite16 in Gstaad and can now also boast a bronze medal from the A1 Beach Pro Vienna 2024. The 2024 season will also see them make their third appearance at the Olympic Games - but they have yet to win an Olympic medal. After narrowly failing to qualify via their world ranking points, they gained entry by triumphing at the South American Continental Cup.

In the 2024 season, the Chilean beach volleyball players had a special highlight: their third participation in the Olympic Games. However, a medal was still missing from their collection. At the Eiffel Tower Stadium in Paris, they advanced from the group stage to the round of 16. There, they were clearly defeated by the strong Qataris Ahmed/Cherif with a score of 0:2 (14:21, 13:21).