The seaside volleyball Olympic area is ready.
All of it.
The 17 spots have been punched by way of Olympic rankings. The French wild playing cards have been doled out — to Remi Bassereau and Julien Lyneel, and Aline Chamereau and Clemence Vieira. The Continental Cups have been performed, and the following picks made.
And on Friday morning, the drawing of tons grew to become official, with all 24 groups being separated into their respective swimming pools. Earlier than we get into the breakdown and evaluation of every pool, a fast primer on the Olympic format:
- It’s a round-robin model pool play, wherein groups will play each opposing workforce of their pool
- Three groups from every pool will break into the playoff rounds
- The highest two third-place groups will start within the spherical of 16, whereas the underside 4 third-place groups will compete in a pigtail spherical, or what is called a fortunate loser. The winners will advance into the ninth-place rounds.
Girls’s Olympic seaside volleyball pool breakdown
Pool B: The Pool of Loss of life
In any main world-class competitors wherein pool play is the format, there may be an inevitable pool of demise. For the ladies, that’s, by an extended shot, Pool B, that includes world No. 2 Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth; China’s Chen Xue, now a four-time Olympian and a bronze medalist within the Beijing Video games, and Xinyi Xia; Tokyo silver medalists Mariafe Artacho and Taliqua Clancy of Australia; and Canada’s Heather Bansley, now a three-time Olympian and a three-time Defensive Participant of the 12 months, and Sophie Bukovec, who punched their Paris ticket by profitable the NORCECA Continental Cup.
How powerful is that this pool? The one workforce with out Olympic expertise is the one seeded on the high. Australia was all the time going to be a land mine, resulting from Clancy sitting out a lot of the yr with an damage. Identical goes for Bukovec and Bansley who, had they performed collectively for everything of the Olympic cycle, doubtless would have certified by way of factors fairly than the Continental Cup. Alas, they had been a shotgun marriage, with Bukovec splitting with Sarah Pavan and Bansley popping out of retirement in the course of the qualification cycle. They narrowly missed on factors, and emerged from an undefeated Continental Cup. Each match in Pool B might be must-watch TV.
Pool C: The Pool of Second Possibilities
It’s uncommon sufficient to see one workforce with a second life within the Olympic Video games, a lot much less two, a lot much less two of them in the identical pool. But that’s exactly what Pool B options, as France’s Aline Chamereau and Clemence Vieira had been gifted a wild card after their countrywomen, Alexia Richard and Lezana Placette, certified by way of factors. The Czech Republic’s Bara Hermannova and Marie-Sara Stochlova, too, obtained a second — no, third! — life after narrowly lacking qualifying by way of factors, after which shedding within the finals of the European Continental Cup to the Netherlands … just for the Dutch Federation to decide out of sending a second ladies’s workforce resulting from a federation rule requiring their groups to complete within the high eight of an Elite16 with the intention to be despatched to the Olympic Video games. The bid, then, trickled right down to Hermannova and Stochlova, the silver medalists of the European Continental Cup. Paris will mark the third Olympic Video games for Hermannova and the primary for Stochlova.
The second-chance nature of the pool makes for a comparatively simple street for top-seeded Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes, and No. 2 Germans Cinja Tillmann and Svenja Muller.
Pool F: The Thriller Pool
It’s powerful to make heads or tails over Pool F, which incorporates France’s high pair in Alexia Richard and Lezana Placette, Switzerland’s Nina Brunner and Tanja Huberli, Spain’s Tania Moreno and Daniela Alvarez, and Germany’s Laura Ludwig and Louisa Lippmann. Anytime you see a five-time Olympian and a gold medalist, as Ludwig is, as the underside seed in your pool, it’s, suffice it to say, an odd pool. The seeding is thrown off with an Olympic rule that has the house workforce — Richard and Placette — seeded as No. 1 within the sixth pool, which, on this case, is Pool F. That put Huberli and Brunner, the world No. 7, as the 2 seed, and every part else grew to become a bit out of kinds. They would be the clear favorites to win pool, however after that? It’s a thriller as to which workforce gained’t make it out, as all 4 are notoriously streaky, as scorching as they are often chilly.
Sleepers and different notes
Whereas Swimming pools A, D, and E are all comparatively easy, with a pecking order that makes good sense with the seeding, there are nonetheless a couple of notable groups who’ve flown below the radar who may choose up an sudden win or two. Japan’s Miki Ishii might be making her second straight Olympics after profitable the Asian Continental Cup alongside Akiko Hasegawa, and their match in Pool E towards Lithuania’s Monika Paulikiene and Aine Raupelyte — the primary Lithuanian seaside volleyball workforce to qualify for an Olympic Video games — would be the de facto match to interrupt pool. There’s little query that Brazil’s Barbara and Carol and the Netherlands’ Katja Stam and Raisa Schoon will declare the highest two spots in Pool E, however each Japan and Lithuania are sleepers primed to engineer an upset.
Males’s Olympic seaside volleyball pool breakdown
Pool A: The Pool of Loss of life
There isn’t a single pool that’s unreasonably stacked, which is good. It’s a digital assure that all the high groups might be shifting onto the playoff rounds. However Pool A, that includes Sweden’s David Ahman and Jonatan Hellvig, Italy’s Sam Cottafava and Paolo Nicolai, Tokyo bronze medalists Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan, and Australia’s Mark Nicolaidis and Izac Carracher, is, to me, probably the most troublesome. At first blush, the Australians are the clear underdog, given they certified by way of the Asian Continental Cup, however they’ve confirmed they will beat almost everybody on the earth. They usually did it not too long ago. On the Espinho Elite16 in Might, they not solely certified, however then went 3-0 in pool play, sweeping Germans Nils Ehlers and Clemens Wickler, Poland’s Bartosz Losiak and Michal Bryl, and the Netherlands’ Stefan Boermans and Yorick de Groot. Three wins like that, in consecutive order, don’t occur on accident. They’re a reputable risk to beat anybody, they usually’re peaking at simply the correct time — of their debut Olympic Video games.
Sweden, in the meantime, has made 9 consecutive finals, whereas Nicolai, a 2016 silver medalist, is competing in his fourth Olympic Video games, and Qatar is the reigning bronze medalists.
As Pool B was for the ladies, so Pool A is must-watch TV for each single match for the lads.
Pool D: The American Blessing
If there may be one pool gamers –`and, by extension, their family and friends and followers — hope to be in, it’s that of the African Continental Cup winner. On this case, that’s Pool D, the place Andy Benesh and Miles Partain are seeded No. 2. Now, to be clear, Partain and Benesh doubtless didn’t want the assistance of a comparatively simple draw to interrupt pool. They’re coming off a bronze medal on the Ostrava Elite16. But it surely actually doesn’t damage. They’ll nonetheless need to fend off acquainted foes in Brazil’s George and Andre, towards whom they’re 1-3, and Cuba’s Jorge Alayo and Noslen Diaz, towards whom they’re 2-0, but when there may be ever such factor in an Olympics as a better match, it will likely be towards Morocco’s Mohamed Abicha and Zouheir Elgaoui. To be clear, Abicha is a gifted seaside participant, now in his second Olympic Video games, and Elgraoui is an exceptional athlete, however it’s higher to see a workforce with seven whole tournaments of expertise over eight years than it’s, say, Nicolaidis and Carracher.
Pool F: Lights, Digicam, Motion
The second Chase Budinger and Miles Evans certified for the Olympic Video games, the media circus went full ship on the media circus. Budinger not too long ago stated that these previous few weeks have been in contrast to something he has ever skilled, receiving protection from the New York Instances, NBC, Yahoo!, Sports activities Illustrated, appeared on SportsCenter and every part in between. Each time he steps on the court docket, be it towards France’s Arnaud Gauthier-Rat and Youssef Krou, the Netherlands’ Stefan Boermans and Yorick de Groot, or Spain’s Pablo Herrera and Adrian Gavira, it will likely be one of many most-viewed matches of the Video games. Regardless of being seeded final, Budinger and Evans must be the odds-on favorites to complete second in Pool F, behind solely Boermans and de Groot.
Krou might be coming off an damage that saved him out of the European Continental Cup, and Budinger and Evans are 2-1 towards Spain, their most up-to-date match coming on the Stare Jablonki Problem in early June, a 21-19, 21-17 win.
Sleepers and different notes
Canadians Sam Schachter and Dan Dearing certified by way of profitable the NORCECA Continental Cup, making for Schachter’s second Olympic Video games and Dearing’s first. They’re in a good place to interrupt out of Pool E, which boasts 2023 World Champs Ondrej Perusic and David Schweiner and Brazil’s white-hot pairing of Evandro Goncalves and Arthur Mariano — but in addition Austria’s Alex Horst and Julian Horl, who’ve been, at greatest, tepid this season, with a 9-13 document and three straight finishes exterior of the top-10.
