The Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour heads this week to Brazil, where the coastal city of Saquarema is set to host the second Elite event of the season, which will see the first appearance of several of the biggest stars of the sport in 2025.

After skipping the tournament held in Quintana Roo, Mexico, two weeks ago, three of the six teams that made it to the podium of last year’s Paris Olympics will get on the court for the first time this season at this week’s event, which will take place at the Campo de Aviação from Wednesday to Sunday.

• Watch the Beach Pro Tour Saquarema Elite16 live on VBTV

Germans Clemens Wickler and Nils Ehlers, who took silver at the Paris Games, are among the teams making their season debuts this week in Brazil. After their historic campaign at the French capital, the two competed in the European Championship, where they also finished second, in an Elite event in their home sand Hamburg and the Beach Pro Tour Finals.

The opponents they defeated in the semifinals in Paris, Norwegian superstars Anders Mol and Christian Sørum, who went to win bronze and secure their second Olympic medals following the victory in Tokyo four years ago, are also confirmed in this week’s event – the Beach Volley Vikings have, in fact, been training in Rio de Janeiro, which is located just 180km away from Saquarema, for about a week before the tournament.

The Norwegians, who have a new coach in 2025 in recently retired Italian Olympian Adrian Carambula, remained extremely active after their podium appearance in Paris, competing in four Beach Pro Tour events before the end of the 2024 season and winning three of them, including the Beach Pro Tour Finals.

With Paris gold medalists David Åhman and Jonatan Hellvig of Sweden also set to compete this week, fans who get to watch the matches in Saquarema will be able to see all three teams that made it to the podium in Paris in action.

The tournament in Brazil will, in fact, feature 28 of the 48 men’s players who appeared at last year’s Olympics and as many as eight Olympic medalists.

Beach Pro Tour Saquarema Elite – Men’s Entry List

On the women’s side, Canadians Brandie Wilkerson and Melissa Humana-Paredes, who took silver in Paris, will be last medalists to debut in the 2025, joining Brazilians Eduarda ‘Duda’ Lisboa and Ana Patrícia Ramos and Swiss Tanja Hüberli, who already competed in Mexico and will also be in action in Brazil – Hüberli’s partner in Paris Nina Brunner is out this season as she’s pregnant.

Brandie and Melissa made just one international appearance following their campaign in Paris, finishing seventh at the Beach Pro Tour Finals in Doha – they also competed domestically in the American AVP.

Vergé-Dépré sisters to make team debut

The event in Brazil will also mark the debut of the highly anticipated team formed by Swiss sisters Anouk and Zoé Vergé-Dépré. After spending the last seven years of their careers as opponents on the Beach Pro Tour, even competing for a spot at the Paris Olympics, which was ultimately earned by Zoé and then-partner Esmée Böbner, the two decided to join forces and will appear for the first time as partners this week in Saquarema.

They had hoped to play in Mexico two weeks ago, but had to postpone their team debut after Anouk dislocated a toe during a training camp in Brazil.

“Our preparation certainly wasn’t ideal as we only got to practice together for one week before this event,” Anouk remarked. “Now we need to find our identity as a team and find out what works for us on the court.”

The women’s tournament in Brazil will have 24 participants from the Paris Olympics and will feature seven Olympic medalists.

Beach Pro Tour Saquarema Elite – Women’s Entry List

The tournament in Saquarema begins on Wednesday, when the qualifiers for both genders will be held. Women’s pool play will start later in the day and continue until Thursday – men’s pool play will go from Thursday to Friday.

The elimination rounds begin on Friday for both genders. The women’s semifinals will be held on Saturday evening, with Sunday, the last day of action in Brazil, featuring the men’s semifinals and the medal matches for both genders.

Beach Pro Tour Saquarema Elite – Match Schedule

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