The first phase of the men’s FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championship in Australia was completed on Monday after four competition days.
The 24 teams that finished first or second in their pools qualified straight to the sixteenth finals, along with the four best-ranked third-placed teams.
Chile’s Marco Grimalt & Esteban Grimalt, Sweden’s David Ahman & Jonatan Hellvig, USA’s Miles Partain & Andrew Benesh, and Argentina’s Juan Amieva & Maciel Bueno earned the four best third-place spots.
The other eight third-placed teams formed the four fixtures for Tuesday’s first playoff round—the round of 36, dubbed “the lucky loser round”—to fill the remaining four vacancies in the sixteenth finals.
The 12 teams that finished bottom of their pools were eliminated from the tournament.
The last match on the Pool I program offered a three-set all-American duel that finalized the standings.
Despite losing 2-1 (16-21, 21-19, 15-9) to compatriots Chaim Schalk & James Shaw, Miles Evans & Chase Budinger finished on top of the table on a 2-2 win-loss record and a better point ratio.
Schalk & Shaw settled for second place.
Ruben Penninga & Matthew Immers of the Netherlands also surpassed Australia’s D’Artagnan Potts & Jack Pearse for the third place on point ratios as both teams ended up on 1-2.
The Aussies are out, the Dutch advanced to Tuesday’s round of 36 against Canada’s Samuel Schachter & Jonathan Pickett.
Schachter & Pickett registered their first win in Adelaide, 2-0 (21-14, 21-16) over Mozambique’s Jose Mondlane & Osvaldo Mungoi, enough to stay in the tournament.
Argentina’s Tomas Capogrosso & Nicolas Capogrosso remained unbeaten and secured the first place in Pool K with a 2-0 (21-18, 21-18) shutout of Paris 2024 Olympic silver medalists Nils Ehlers & Clemens Wickler of Germany.
The Germans finished second on 2-1.
In Pool E, fifth-seeded Michal Bryl & Bartosz Losiak of Poland topped the standings undefeated after mastering a 2-0 (21-18, 21-19) win over Germany’s Lukas Pfretzschner & Sven Winter.
Austria’s Christoph Dressler & Philipp Waller moved on to the first elimination round on Tuesday after a 2-0 (21-15, 21-15) sweep of the survival match for third place in the pool against China’s Wang Yanwei & Du Hongjun.
The Austrians will face Norway’s Markus Mol & Adrian Mol from Pool B.
The young Beachvolley Vikings squeezed out a nail-biting 2-1 (19-21, 22-20, 15-13) victory over Australia’s Luke Ryan & Zachery Schubert in a deciding battle for third place in Pool B.
The other Norwegian pair in the pool, Hendrik Mol & Mathias Berntsen produced a 2-0 (21-18, 21-19) upset of second-seeded Stefan Boermans & Yorick de Groot of the Netherlands to top the pool table undefeated.
France’s Teo Rotar & Arnaud Gauthier-Rat put together a 2-1 (21-16, 12-21, 15-13) upset of seventh-seeded Jacob Holting Nilsson & Elmer Andersson of Sweden and finished first in Pool G with three tie-breaker victories.
The Swedes will join them in the sixteenth finals as pool runners-up on a 2-1 win-loss record.
England’s Javier Bello & Joaquin Bello qualified for the round of 36 after earning a hard-fought 2-1 (18-21, 21-17, 16-14) victory over Australia’s Ben Hood & Oliver Merritt.
The English twins will take on New Zealand’s Bradley Fuller & Ben O’Dea from Pool F for a spot in the sixteenth finals.
In the other first knockout round match-up, Switzerland’s Adrian Heidrich & Jonathan Jordan from Pool A will challenge Austria’s Timo Hammarberg & Tim Berger from Pool J.
The first men’s playoff match on Tuesday will kick off at 13:30 local time (03:00 UTC).
The Beach Volleyball World Championships in Adelaide feature 48 men’s pairs from 40 different nations battling for the title.
The 48 teams were split into 12 pools for the preliminary phase.
Pool play determined which teams advanced directly to the knockout stages and which had to fight through the lucky loser round.
The tournament runs from November 14-23 at The Drive and Pinky Flat in the heart of Adelaide.
Norway’s upset of second-seeded Boermans & De Groot represents one of the biggest surprises of pool play.
Hendrik Mol & Mathias Berntsen went undefeated to top their pool and avoid the elimination round.
The Capogrosso brothers from Argentina also impressed with their unbeaten run through Pool K.
Their victory over Olympic silver medalists Ehlers & Wickler showed they belong among the championship contenders.
Poland’s Bryl & Losiak, seeded fifth, lived up to expectations by winning Pool E without dropping a match.
They enter the knockout rounds as one of the favorites to reach the medal matches.
The all-American Pool I finale created drama as Evans & Budinger lost but still won their pool on tiebreakers.
Both American pairs advanced to the sixteenth finals.
Australia’s home-court advantage couldn’t save several Aussie pairs who were eliminated in pool play.
Only the top Australian teams survived to continue their championship dreams.
The lucky loser round on Tuesday gives eight teams one more chance to reach the main knockout bracket.
Winners advance to join the 24 automatic qualifiers in the sixteenth finals.
The knockout format means every match becomes crucial from Tuesday forward.
One loss sends teams home as the tournament enters its most exciting phase.
France’s upset victory over Sweden in Pool G shows that seedings don’t always predict results.
Rotar & Gauthier-Rat won three tiebreakers to claim top spot in a competitive pool.
The English Bello twins kept their championship hopes alive with their clutch third-place finish.
They must win their lucky loser match to continue competing.
Watch all matches from the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships on VBTV as the competition intensifies.
The tournament delivers 10 days of world-class beach volleyball action in Adelaide.
