Overview

Tokyo Olympic silver medallists Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho del Solar aim to go one better in Paris where they are also seeking to become the first Australian team in 24 years to win gold. If they succeed, they’ll equal the feats of countrywomen Natalie Cook and Kerri Pottharst who have won Olympic gold and bronze. 

The duo will be joined by Olympic debutants Thomas Hodges and Zachery Schubert along with Izac Carracher and Mark Nicolaidis. Paris is the first time Australia fields two men’s teams in beach volleyball since the 2004 Athens Olympics. Twenty-four-year-old Izac and 23-year-old Mark are Australia’s second-youngest male Olympic beach volleyball team, behind the duo of Julien Prosser and Lee Zahner at Atlanta 1996.

The Beach Volleyball competition at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games is staged from Saturday 27 July to Saturday 10 August at the Eiffel Tower Stadium in Paris.

Ones to Watch 

In the women’s competition, Taliqua and Mariafe will have a target on their back. They enter the tournament ranked 12th in the world. Among the women’s teams to watch for will be FIVB Beach Volleyball World Ranking leaders Eduarda Santos Lisboa (Duda) and Ana Patricia Ramos of Brazil, world champions Sara Hughes and Kelly Cheng of the United States and former Olympic and world champion Laura Ludwig and former international indoor star Louisa Lippmann of Germany. 

Izac and Mark will have a tough first outing going head to head with the world’s number one men’s pair, Sweden’s David Ahman and Jonatan Hellvig.

Fellow Australian Olympic debutants Thomas and Zachery enter the Games ranked 16th after qualifying through on the FIVB World Rankings. 

In the men’s competition, reigning world and Olympic champions Christian Sørum and Anders Mol from Norway are considered red hot favourites alongside reigning world champions, Ondrej Perusic and David Schweiner of Czechia.

Sport Format 

The Paris Games will feature 24 teams in each gender being split into six pools. The first round of the tournament will be completed after teams face each of their three pool opponents once.

At the end of pool play, the six pool winners, the six pool runners-up and the two best-ranked third-placed teams will qualify directly to the Round of 16, occupying 14 of the 16 spots available.

The remaining four third-placed teams will play a “lucky loser” round, composed of two matches, from where the last two teams to play in the Round of 16 will emerge. Starting at this round and continuing through the quarterfinals, semifinals and medal matches, the men's and women's tournaments will progress in a single-elimination format.

Beach Volleyball is played by two teams of two players on a sand court 16m long and eight metres wide - slightly smaller than an indoor court - that is divided by a net. Beach Volleyball uses the same net height as indoor volleyball: 2.24m for women and 2.43m for men.

The first team to win two sets wins the match. The first two sets are played to 21 points each and the third set, if necessary, is played to 15 points. As there are only two players per team, players have a lot more ground to cover, which means they need lightning-fast reflexes. 

Competition Schedule

Competition begins on 27 July at 11pm AEST.