World Championships: German Women Make Huge Leap in Hamburg

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.

The recipe was the perfect alchemy of every ingredient the German federation could want: A home Elite, with a 24-team main draw, with six of the world’s best teams competing in various domestic championship events — all with just three events remaining in the World Championships qualifying period.

They took advantage.

The German women pummeled their way through pool play and finished with two teams in the top five — Cinja Tillmann and Svenja Muller, who took fourth, and Sandra Ittlinger and Anna Grune, who finished fifth — and another, Linda Bock and Louisa Lippmann, in the top-10. It all added up to Tillmann and Muller, already assured a berth in this fall’s World Championships, a bump up one spot, Bock and Lippmann jumping three, and Ittlinger and Grune five, to No. 20. While no sure thing, it’s now possible, even likely, that Germany will boast three women’s teams in the World Championships this fall, much kudos to a tremendous all-around showing at the Hamburg Elite.

Women’s Beach Volleyball World Championships Standings

Thamela Coradelli, Victoria Lopes, Brazil: 5780 (6)
Carol Salgado, Rebecca Cavalcanti, Brazil: 5220 (6)
Tina Graudina, Anastasija Samoilova, Latvia: 5220 (6)
Svenja Muller, Cinja Tillmann, Germany: 5080 (6)
Kristen Nuss, Taryn Brasher, USA: 4960 (5)
Reka Orsi Toth, Valentina Gottardi, Italy: 4940 (6)
Anouk Verge-Depre, Zoe Verge-Depre, Switzerland: 4600 (6)
Ana Patricia, Duda, Brazil: 4360 (5)
Dorina Klinger, Ronja Klinger, Austria: 4240 (6)
Terese Cannon, Megan Kraft, USA: 4140 (5)
Melissa Humana-Paredes, Brandie Wilkerson, Canada: 4080 (5)
Tanja Huberli, Leona Kernen, Switzerland: 3880 (6)
Clemence Vieira, Aline Chamereau, France: 3860 (6)
Maryna Hladun, Tetiana Lazarenko, Ukraine: 3640 (6)
Kelly Cheng, Molly Shaw, USA: 3620 (5)
Linda Bock, Louisa Lippmann, Germany: 3540 (6)
Taru Lahti, Niina Ahtiainen, Finland: 3500 (6)
Daniela Alvarez, Tania Moreno, Spain: 3480 (6)
Julia Donlin, Lexy Denaburg, USA: 3400 (6)
Sandra Ittlinger, Anna-Lena Grune, Germany: 3420 (6)
Claudia Scampoli, Giada Bianchi, Italy: 3390 (6)
Marketa Svozilova, Marie-Sara Stochlova, Czech Republic: 3320 (6)
Mila Konink, Raisa Schoon, Netherlands: 3270 (6)
Emi van Driel, Wies Bekhuis, Netherlands: 3170 (6)
Valentyna Davidova, Anhelina Khmil, Ukraine: 3060 (6)
Taliqua Clancy, Jana Milutinovic, Australia: 2920 (6)
Hegeile Almeida Dos Santos, Vitoria de Souza, Brazil: 2840 (6)
Malgorzata Ciezkowska, Urszula Lunio, Poland: 2800 (6)
Kim Hildreth, Teegan Van Gunst, USA: 2800 (6)

Men’s World Champs at standstill after Hamburg

While the movement on the women’s side was vast, the men cannot say the same.

That, in itself, is an intriguing story.

Phillipp Waller and Chris Dressler played some of their finest volleyball of the season in Hamburg, qualifying with little resistance, pushing Sweden’s David Ahman and Jonatan Hellvig to three in pool play, upsetting Brazil’s George and Saymon to break pool, pushing eventual silver medalists Bartosz Losiak and Michal Bryl to three in the first round of playoffs.

What do they have to show for it?

A whopping zero points in the World Champs standings.

The same could be said for Jonathan Jordan and Adrian Heidrich. They, too, put together some of their most complete matches, pushing Germans Nils Ehlers and Clemens Wickler to a 14-16 third-set in pool play, controlling a sweep over France’s Remi Bassereau and Calvin Aye to break pool, then pushing Evandro and Arthur to a 15-17 decider in the first round of playoffs.

All for nought, as far as World Champs points go, though the $5,500 in prize money isn’t so terrible.

The only movement occurred between teams already virtually guaranteed bids into World Champs, as Losiak and Bryl popped up from seven to four, and Martins Plavins and Kristians Fokerots from 19 to 14. There are but three events remaining: Elites in Joao Pessoa and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and the concluding act, a Challenge in Mexico.