World Championships: Henning-Wust, Nicolaidis-Carracher Make Big Jump in Montreal

Welcome to the Road to Adelaide, our series breaking down the race to qualifying for the 2025 Beach Volleyball World Championships, which will be held in Adelaide, Australia, November 14-23. Of the 48 teams who qualify for the World Championships, 25 are earned via points, the standings of which are determined by your best six finishes in the 2025 year up through October 5, which follows a Beach Pro Tour Challenge event in Mexico. There is a country quota of four teams per federation who can qualify.

When it comes to points races in beach volleyball — those for the upcoming World Championships in Adelaide, Australia, or the Olympic Games, for example — it is often the teams you do not see on the podium who have had the most significant weekends. Such was the case last weekend in Montreal, Canada, when three teams assured of their World Championship berth — Anders Mol and Christian Sorum, Jacob Holting-Nilsson and Elmer Andersson, Ondrej Perusic and David Schweiner — were awarded the gold, silver and bronze medals, respectively, at the Montreal Elite.

Meanwhile, Germany’s Lui Wust and Paul Henning, and Australia’s Mark Nicolaidis and Izach Carracher, had cause for as much celebration as any. Both teams finished fifth, their best points finishes of the season, and are now into the top-15 of the World Championships standings — safe, but not totally secure. While there was no podium, this leap up the standings is almost just as good.

Men’s Beach Volleyball World Championships Standings

Anders Mol, Christian Sorum, Norway: 6060 (6)
David Ahman, Jonatan Hellvig, Sweden: 5400 (6)
Ondrej Perusic, David Schweiner, Czech Republic: 4960 (6)
Stefan Boermans, Yorick de Groot, Netherlands: 4628 (6)
Tomas Capogrosso, Nico Capogrosso, Argentina: 4520 (6)
Jacob Holting-Nilsson, Elmer Andersson, Sweden: 4520 (6)
Michal Bryl, Bartosz Losiak, Poland: 4520 (6)
Evandro Goncalves, Arthur Lanci, Brazil: 4460 (6)
Jorge Alayo, Noslen Diaz, Cuba: 3860 (6)
Cherif Younousse, Ahmed Tijan, Qatar: 3860 (6)
Steven van De Velde, Alex Brouwer, Netherlands: 3808 (6)
Teo Rotar, Arnaud Gauthier-Rat, France: 3660 (6)
Paul Henning, Lui Wust, Germany: 3620 (6)
Clemens Wickler, Nils Ehlers, Germany: 3560 (6)
Mark Nicolaidis, Izac Carracher, Australia: 3480 (6)
Timo Hammarberg, Tim Berger, Austria: 3480 (6)
Hendrik Mol, Mathias Berntsen, Norway: 3400 (6)
Lukas Pfretzschner, Sven Winter, Germany: 3360 (6)
Martins Plavins, Kristians Fokerots, Latvia: 3360 (6)
Marco Krattiger, Leo Dillier, Switzerland: 3340 (6)
Miles Evans, Chase Budinger, USA: 3180 (6)
Marco Grimalt, Esteban Grimalt, Chile: 3160 (6)
Chris Dressler, Philipp Waller, Austria: 3120 (6)
Pedro Sousa, Renato Lima, Brazil: 3100 (6)
Remi Bassereau, Calvin Aye, France: 3080 (6)
Joao Pedrosa, Hugo Campos, Portugal: 3080 (6)
Adrian Heidrich, Jonathan Jordan, Switzerland: 3040 (6)
Yves Hauusener, Julian Freidli, Switzerland: 3000 (6)

Arguably the most comical riser in the World Champs race in Montreal was the team many still consider to be the No. 1 team in the world, in spite of what the official rankings will tell you: Ana Patricia Silva and Duda Lisboa.

The Brazilians and Olympic gold medalists took four months off the Beach Pro Tour, healing up injuries both mental and physical. When they returned to Montreal, gone were the apathetic players simply going through the motions because they were supposed to, replaced with the familiar, joyful, smiling duo the beach world has come to love. It’s easily to smile, of course, playing well, and they did, indeed, do that, finishing with a bronze medal after blasting their way through pool by an astonishing 44-point margin.

Ana Patricia and Duda are now ranked No. 20 in the World Champs standings, yet their 840-point average per event puts them at No. 5 in that category. They’ll be back next weekend at the Hamburg Elite, where they will fly up the rankings once more, regardless of finish, for they’re still adding finishes without dropping any.