U.S. beach volleyball duo Cheng, Hughes win world title, clinch Olympic quota spot
Czech Republic's Perusic, Schweiner crowned men's champions in Mexico
Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes of the United States won gold at the beach volleyball world championships with a straight-sets win over the defending champions on Sunday in Mexico.
The third-ranked duo dethroned top-ranked Brazilians Ana Patricia Silva Ramos and Eduarda "Duda" Santos Lisboa, capturing the world title with a 21-16, 24-22 win over the previously undefeated pair in Tlaxcala.
On the men's side, the Czech duo of Ondrej Perusic and David Schweiner topped the podium by defeating Sweden's David Åhman and Jonatan Hellvig 2-1 (21-15, 17-21, 15-13) earlier in the day. The victory marks the Czech Republic's first-ever beach volleyball world title.
The women's and men's champions earned quota spots for their respective countries at the 2024 Paris Olympics and a share of the $1 million purse.
Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth of the U.S. claimed the women's bronze medal with a 2-1 win over Australia's Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho del Solar, while the men's bronze went to Poland's Michal Bryl and Bartosz Losiak with a sweep of Americans Theo Brunner and Trevor Crabb.
Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson finished fifth as the top Canadians after falling in straight sets to Clancy and Artacho del Solar in the women's quarterfinals on Friday in Apizaco.
The tournaments were a good opportunity for teams to pick up points and improve their world ranking, with the top 17 teams in each gender at the June 10, 2024 cut-off automatically qualifying for Paris 2024. With their fifth-place finish, Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson should retain their top-10 ranking.
Sarah Pavan of Kitchener, Ont., and Toronto's Molly McBain were eliminated in the Round of 32 on Wednesday, while Toronto's Dan Dearing and Sam Schachter of Richmond Hill, Ont., lost in the men's Round of 32, leaving both teams with 17th-place finishes.
Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson will join fellow Canadians Jake MacNeil and Alex Russell at the upcoming Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile, with the beach volleyball tournaments taking place Oct. 21 to 27 at the Parque Peñalolen. The Games do not factor into qualification for Paris.
The Toronto pair is also set to compete at the Elite 16 event in João Pessoa, Brazil, running Nov. 22 to 26.
