Joana Mader, left, and Anouk Verge-Depre were left scrambling against the Canadians and out of Olympics contention/Volleyball World photo
It’s over.
At long last, after 17 months and nearly two dozen tournaments, the first and major leg of the Paris Olympic race is over, the last bid sealed up by Switzerland’s Zoe Verge-Depre and Esmee Bobner.
Their ticket was punched in an agonizing manner, watching from the sidelines as Tokyo bronze medalists Anouk Verge-Depre — the older sister of Zoe — and Joana Mader competed at the Ostrava Elite16, after Zoe and Bobner were eliminated in the qualifier by their very rivals. A winless performance in the main draw, when a semifinal berth was required, ended the run for Anouk and Mader, who fell in both matches on Friday, first to Barbora Hermannova and Marie-Sara Stochlova of the Czech Republic (21-19, 23-21) then to Canada’s Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson (23-21, 21-15).
Esmee Bobner, left, and Zoe Verge-Depree during the Ostrava qualifier/Volleyball World photo
Eighteen of the 24 spots per gender are now decided. Of the remaining six spots, five will be earned via continental cup events over the next few weeks, and France will award one wild card. Boding well for France is that its top women’s team, Lezana Placette and Alexia Richard, qualified via points, and will then get a second team into the Games via wild card. They are expected to announce their wild card teams June 17.
Below is a list of teams who have qualified for the Olympics
Men’s beach volleyball teams qualified for the Paris Olympics
World Championships berth: Ondrej Perusic, David Schweiner, CZECH REPUBLIC
David Ahman, Jonatan Hellvig, SWEDEN
Anders Mol, Christian Sorum, NORWAY
Andre Loyola, George Wanderley, BRAZIL
Nils Ehlers, Clemens Wickler, GERMANY
Andy Benesh, Miles Partain, USA
Evandro Goncalves, Arthur Mariano, BRAZIL
Michal Bryl, Bartosz Losiak, POLAND
Stefan Boermans, Yorick de Groot, NETHERLANDS
Matthew Immers, Steven van de Velde, NETHERLANDS
Sam Cottafava, Paolo Nicolai, ITALY
Cherif Samba, Ahmed Tijan, QATAR
Chase Budinger, Miles Evans, USA
Adrian Gavira, Pablo Herrera, SPAIN
Adrian Carambula, Alex Ranghieri, ITALY
Thomas Hodges, Zachery Schubert, AUSTRALIA
Jorge Alayo, Noslen Diaz, CUBA
Julian Horl, Alex Horst, AUSTRIA
Women’s beach volleyball teams qualified for the Paris Olympics
World Championships berth: Kelly Cheng, Sara Hughes, USA
Duda Lisboa, Ana Patricia Silva, BRAZIL
Kristen Nuss, Taryn Kloth, USA
Carolina Salgado, Barbara Seixas, BRAZIL
Raisa Schoon, Katja Stam, NETHERLANDS
Nina Brunner, Tanja Huberli, SWITZERLAND
Melissa Humana-Paredes, Brandie Wilkerson, CANADA
Xinyi Xia, Chen Xue, CHINA
Tina Graudina, Anastasija Samoilova, LATVIA
Valentina Gottardi, Marta Menegatti, ITALY
Mariafe Artacho, Taliqua Clancy, AUSTRALIA
Svenja Muller, Cinja Tillman, GERMANY
Esmee Bobner, Zoe Verge-Depre, SWITZERLAND
Daniela Alvarez, Tania Moreno, SPAIN
Laura Ludwig, Louisa Lippmann, GERMANY
Lezana Placette, Alexia Richard, FRANCE
Monika Paulikiene, Aine Raupelyte, LITHUANIA
Lili Fernandez, Paula Soria, SPAIN
Miles Partain cuts a shot past Nils Ehlers/Volleyball World photo
Three USA teams remain in the Ostrava Elite16
With the Olympic race decided, what’s left is a normal tournament with normal stakes on the line — prize money, entry points, wins and all the rest.
Three USA teams remain in the hunt of the Ostrava Elite16. As they have been since Thursday, Andy Benesh and Miles Partain are the lone American men, putting together consecutive wins over Poland’s Piotr Kantor and Jakub Zdybek (21-14, 21-10) and Germany’s Nils Ehlers and Clemens Wickler (21-17, 26-24). Friday marked their first career win over Germany, who is coming off a silver medal at the Espinho Elite16 two weeks ago.
The remaining American teams, Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes, and Betsi Flint and Julia Scoles, will play one another in the first round of the playoffs. The last meeting between the two teams actually came in Ostrava a year ago, during the final round of pool play, where Cheng and Hughes won easily, 21-13, 21-11. Saturday will mark the fifth matchup between the two, a series Hughes and Cheng lead 4-0.
