Beach Update: U.S. Men Looking for Points at Elite 16 Brasilia

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (May 1, 2024) – As we enter May, each tournament is critical for pairs in the race to earn more Olympic points. With the top two spots nearly locked in for the U.S. women, the U.S. men’s rankings will likely get extra attention this week at BPT Elite 16 Brasilia.

Challenge Xiamen

All but one U.S. pair competing at BPT Challenge Xiamen last week finished in the top-10. The U.S. results on the men’s side were highlighted by Miles Evans/Chase Budinger, who finished just off the podium in fourth place.

Evans/Budinger defeated Pedro Solberg/Guto (BRA) in the quarterfinals 2-0 (21-14, 21-13) to advance to the semis, but saw their tournament run end there with losses to Krou/Gauthier-Rat (FRA) in the semis and Pfretzschner/Winter (GER) in the third-place match.

Logan Webber/Hagen Smith were the next highest finishers for the men, tying for fifth after falling in the quarterfinals to Pfretzschner/Winter.

Trevor Crabb/Theo Brunner and James Shaw/Jordan Hoppe tied for ninth after losses in the round of 16.

Kylie Deberg/Hailey Harward were the highest finishing pair for the U.S. women, also tying for ninth place.

Full Results

Elite 16 Brasilia

Elite 16 Brasilia, Brazil, is the next BPT event on the calendar and the third Elite 16 event of the season. There are two more Elite 16s (Espinho May 22-26, Ostrava June 5-9) before the Olympic points cutoff for 2024.

The top U.S. women’s pairs of Kelly Cheng/Sara Hughes and Taryn Kloth/Kristen Nuss are set to compete. Hughes/Cheng are in pool B for the main draw, while Nuss/Kloth are Pool C with their first matches beginning May 2.

Trevor Crabb/Theo Brunner, Miles Evans/Chase Budinger and Miles Partain/Andy Benesh are the three men’s pairs in Brasilia.

Crabb/Brunner start in the qualification phase on May 1. Evans/Budinger look to build on their fourth-place finish a week ago in pool A, while Partain/Benesh compete in pool B. The latter two pairs begin competition on May 2.

NORCECA Varadero

Harward/Deberg will look to build on their top-10 finish in Xiamen at NORCECA Varadero, Cuba, this week. They are joined by Savvy Simo/Abby Van Winkle representing the U.S. women.

Both pairs medaled at the previous NORCECA in Playa de Guibia, Dominican Republic, in early April. Harward/Deberg claimed gold, while Simo/Van Winkle took silver.

On the men’s side, Evan Cory/Wyatt Harrison and Avery Drost/Cody Caldwell will compete. Cory/Harrison also medaled in Playa de Guibia, taking home silver.

This is the first of back-to-back NORCECA beach events, with NORCECA Juan Dolio, Dominican Republic, taking place May 7-11.

Olympic Rankings

Inside three months to go until Paris 2024, the Olympic roster spots for the U.S. Beach National Team are beginning to take shape, but the provisional Olympic ranking is still a three-team race for the men that requires some clarification with upcoming tournaments. The fourth-place finish at Challenge Xiamen gave Evans/Budinger 220 more points, but they are still five places behind Crabb/Brunner.

Partain and Benesh did not compete last week, so the duo are still No. 8, tied with Brouwer/Meeuwsen (NED). The Americans have 8,220 points on 11 tournaments played. Brasilia will give them the all-important 12 tournaments played necessary for Olympic consideration.

Crabb/Brunner are still No. 10 in the provisional Olympic rankings with 7, 860 points on 18 tournaments played.

Evans/Budinger are No. 15 in the provisional Olympic rankings, moving up one spot after Xiamen. They have 7,460 points on 19 tournaments played.

For the women, the rankings remain unchanged from a week ago as the top two U.S. pairs have not competed since Elite 16 Tepic.

Taryn Kloth and Kristen Nuss are No. 2 in the provisional Olympic rankings behind only Ana Patricia/Duda (BRA). Nuss/Kloth have 10,860 points on 15 tournaments played.

Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes are in sole possession of No. 3 in the provisional Olympic rankings with 10,640 points on 14 tournaments played. Hughes/Cheng have the W designation for a quota place obtained for winning the 2023 Beach World Championships.

Current World Rankings – Men

Current World Rankings – Women

Provisional Olympic Ranking – Men 

Provisional Olympic Ranking – Women