Volleyball

Olympic Beach Volleyball Rankings: Zoe Verge-Depre, Esmee Bobner land critical bronze

May 7, 2024

The race for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games officially began in February 2023 in Doha, Qatar, with the Volleyball World Elite16. The 2024 season began the first week of March back in Doha, and the final event of the Olympic qualification cycle will be the Ostrava Elite16, which ends on June 9. We’ll be providing these updates for the Beach Volleyball Olympic rankings after international points-earning tournaments:

With three events remaining in the Olympic qualification period — an Elite16 in Espinho, Portugal, a Challenge in Stare Jablonki, Poland, and an Elite16 in Ostrava, Czech Republic — the women’s race has been essentially boiled down the reality television show of Keeping up With the Verge-Depre Sisters.

Somehow, with each episode, they continue to keep pace with each other.

Zoe Verge-Depre and Esmee Bobner led older sister Anouk Verge-Depre and Joana Mader, bronze medalists at the Tokyo Olympic Games, entering the season. Anouk and Mader took the lead at the season-opening tournament in Doha, and the lead has flipped every single event since, each team one-upping the other in an impressive display of Swiss strength. When Zoe and Bobner won their first gold medal at a Challenge in Guadalajara, Anouk and Mader nearly matched it with a silver in Xiamen but took the lead nonetheless. Zoe and Bobner responded again his past weekend in Brasilia, Brazil, claiming a bronze medal, their first podium at an Elite16.

Back in the lead they went.

Zoe and Bobner now hold their biggest lead over Anouk and Mader, a 460-point edge that, on paper, would seem safe, but this is the Swiss race we’re speaking of — no lead has been safe for a single week in 2024.

A similar sentiment could be said of the men’s Dutch race. A gold medal by Stefan Boermans and Yorick de Groot to open the season in Doha, and three straight fifths from No. 3 Steven van de Velde and Matthew Immers, appeared to settle it: Boermans and de Groot had cemented one spot, while Alex Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen had long locked up the other. Immers and van de Velde, though impressive, would just miss.

Then came Brasilia. Immers and van de Velde had never medaled in an Elite16. In fact, they’d made just a single podium in a Challenge, posting more qualifier knock-outs than they had medals in the first 14 months of the qualification period. But when they needed it most, they delivered, winning a silver medal in Brasilia while critically knocking out Brouwer and Meeuwsen in the quarterfinals. The 1,100 points they picked up in Brasilia jumped them to No. 11 in the rankings, just 220 points behind Brouwer and Meeuwsen. Technically, they lead Boermans and de Groot, though Boermans and de Groot are still adding two more finishes without dropping any.

Who’s the favorite? Hard to say, though Boermans and de Groot, who finished ninth in Brasilia, are certainly in the driver’s seat, and Immers and van de Velde have the momentum heading into the final stretch, despite still behind down to Meeuwsen and Brouwer.

Also now in the driver’s seat, though for a different race, is Chase Budinger and Miles Evans. A fifth in Brasilia is, like van de Velde and Immers, their best finish at an Elite16. Like van de Velde and Immers, it couldn’t have come at a better time, drawing them within 100 points of Trevor Crabb and Theo Brunner. After next weekend’s NORCECA Continental Finals, Budinger and Evans will, for the first time, be holding the lead for the second USA spot.

Women’s Beach Volleyball Olympic Rankings

(updated May 6 after Brasilia Elite16)

Duda Lisboa, Ana Patricia Silva, BRAZIL, 12260 (12)
Kristen Nuss, Taryn Kloth, USA, 11360 (12)
Kelly Cheng, Sara Hughes, USA, 10800 (12)
Carolina Salgado, Barbara Seixas, BRAZIL, 10440 (12)
Melissa Humana-Paredes, Brandie Wilkerson, CANADA, 10220 (12)
Raisa Schoon, Katja Stam, NETHERLANDS, 9980 (12)
Nina Brunner, Tanja Huberli, SWITZERLAND, 9220 (11)
Xinyi Xia, Chen Xue, CHINA, 8900 (12)
Valentina Gottardi, Marta Menegatti, ITALY, 8700 (12)
Tina Graudina, Anastasija Samoilova, LATVIA, 8700 (12)
Svenja Muller, Cinja Tillman, GERMANY, 8260 (12)
Victoria Lopes, Taina Silva, BRAZIL, 8160 (12)
Agatha, Rebecca, BRAZIL, 7920 (12)
Esmee Bobner, Zoe Verge-Depre, SWITZERLAND, 7900 (12)
Laura Ludwig, Louisa Lippmann, GERMANY, 7580 (12)
Anouk Verge-Depre, Joana Mader, SWITZERLAND, 7440 (12)
Daniela Alvarez, Tania Moreno, SPAIN, 7380 (12)
Karla Borger, Sandra Ittlinger, GERMANY, 7360 (12)
Mariafe Artacho, Taliqua Clancy, AUSTRALIA, 7310 (10)
Lezana Placette, Alexia Richard, FRANCE, 6920 (12)
Monika Paulikiene, Aine Raupelyte, LITHUANIA, 6900 (12)
Betsi Flint, Julia Scoles, USA, 6740 (11)
Sarah Pavan, Molly McBain, CANADA, 6540 (12)
Lili Fernandez, Paula Soria, SPAIN, 6480 (12)
Andressa Cavalcanti, Vitoria De Souza, BRAZIL, 6240 (12)
Dorina Klinger, Ronja Klinger, AUSTRIA, 6220 (12)
Niina Ahtiainen, Taru Lahti, FINLAND, 5960 (12)
Jagoda Gruszczynska, Ola Wachowicz, POLAND, 5940 (12)
Worapeerachayakorn Kongphopsarutawadee, Taravadee Naraphornrapat, THAILAND, 5800 (12)
Barbora Hermannova, Marie-Sara Stochlova, CZECH REPUBLIC, 5740 (12)
Sophie Bukovec, Heather Bansley, CANADA, 5550 (10)
Jie Dong, Fan Wang, CHINA, 5080 (12)

Esmee Bobner-Zoe Verge-Depre-Olympic beach volleyball rankings — **Esmee Bobner and Zoe Verge-Depre won bronze at the Brasilia Elite16**

Men’s Beach Volleyball Olympic Rankings

(updated May 6 after the Brasilia Elite16)

David Ahman, Jonatan Hellvig, SWEDEN, 11220 (10)
Anders Mol, Christian Sorum, NORWAY, 10460 (10)
Andre Loyola, George Wanderley, BRAZIL, 10020 (12)
Nils Ehlers, Clemens Wickler, GERMANY, 9840 (12)
Evandro Goncalves, Arthur Mariano, BRAZIL, 9260 (12)
Andy Benesh, Miles Partain, USA, 8980 (11)
Sam Cottafava, Paolo Nicolai, ITALY, 8800 (12)
Alex Brouwer, Robert Meeuwsen, NETHERLANDS, 8600 (12)
Michal Bryl, Bartosz Losiak, POLAND, 8440 (10)
Ondrej Perusic, David Schweiner, Czech Republic, 8380 (9)
Matthew Immers, Steven van de Velde, NETHERLANDS, 8380 (12)
Adrian Gavira, Pablo Herrera, SPAIN, 8080 (12)
Stefan Boermans, Yorick de Groot, NETHERLANDS, 8000 (10)
Cherif Samba, Ahmed Tijan, QATAR, 7960 (11)
Theo Brunner, Trevor Crabb, USA, 7860 (12)
Adrian Carambula, Alex Ranghieri, ITALY, 7840 (12)
Chase Budinger, Miles Evans, USA, 7760 (12)
Thomas Hodges, Zachery Schubert, AUSTRALIA, 7520 (12)
Julian Horl, Alex Horst, AUSTRIA, 7260 (12)
Pedro Solberg, Guto Carvalhaes, BRAZIL, 7260 (12)
Esteban Grimalt, Marco Grimalt, CHILE, 7220 (12)
Jorge Alayo, Noslen Diaz, CUBA, 7040 (11)
Vitor Felipe, Renato Lima, BRAZIL, 6760 (12)
Tri Bourne, Chaim Schalk, USA, 6580 (12)
Moritz Pristauz, Robin Seidl, AUSTRIA, 6540 (12)
Hendrik Mol, Mathias Berntsen, NORWAY, 6420 (12)
Javier Bello, Joaquin Bello, ENGLAND, 6120 (12)
Piotr Kantor, Jakub Zdybek, POLAND, 5960 (12)
Sam Schachter, Dan Dearing, CANADA, 5900 (12)
Daniele Lupo, Enrico Rossi, ITALY, 5720 (12)
Paul Burnett, Chris McHugh, AUSTRALIA, 5460 (12)
Sergiy Popov, Eduard Reznik, UKRAINE, 5300 (11)

Previous rankings

Things to know about Olympic Beach qualifying:

To qualify for the Olympic Games via the Olympic rankings, teams use their best 12 finishes throughout the Olympic qualifying period, which ends June 9, 2024. The top 17 from the Olympic rankings will punch their tickets to the Paris Olympics. The remaining seven spots are allotted to five continental cup champions, the winner of the 2023 World Championships, and the French wild card.
Each country is limited to two teams who can earn a spot in the Olympic Games.
Teams can never push out good finishes. Once you hit your 12, you only replace your worst finishes. In parentheses below is the number of events each pair has played.
You earn points as a team. Therefore, if a team breaks up and the individuals select new partners, they begin with zero Olympic ranking points, although they keep their individual entry points to get into events.
Click here for the full Beach Pro Tour schedule. The next Volleyball World event will be a Challenge in Xiamen, China.