Men’s Event
Mol/Sorum (Norway) are the reigning Olympic champions. They won the 2022 World Championships and four of the biggest tournaments that season. It was only three in 2023 though. An ankle fracture has cost them most of this season but they did win Vienna before the Games. Ahman/Hellvig (Sweden) also won five tournaments in 2023 including the European Championships and tour finals. They were also runners-up in the 2023 World Championship, where they were defeated by Perusic/Schweiner (Czech Republic). They also won tournaments in Paris and Uberlandia in 2023. The bronze medal winners at the 2023 World Championships were Losiak/Bryl (Poland). They were runners-up at the 2022 tour finals. Behind them were Nicolai/Cottafava (Italy). Bronze medal winners in 2023 were George/Andre (Brazil) who also won bronze at the 2022 World Championship. Cherif/Ahmed (Qatar) were the Olympic bronze medalists in Tokyo and came fourth at the 2023 tour finals. Wickets won silver at the 2019 World Championship. The new partnership of Ehlers/Wickler (Germany) were runners-up in Paris in 2024 and the team has made the semi-finals of four elite 16 tournaments. Evandro/Arthur (Brazil) won the home event, Brasilia in 2024. They beat van de Velde/Immers (Netherlands) in that final. Compatriots Boermans/de Groot (Netherlands) were European Championship runners-up in 2021. They also won in Doha earlier in the year before losing in the final in Ostrava. Partain/Benesh (United States) were third-place finishers in Ostrava. In 2023, they had three podium finishes, winning in Gstaad. Grimalt/Grimalt (Chile) won there in 2022, as well as finishing fourth in Paris. In 2023, Horl/Horst (Austria) finished fourth in Paris.
An ankle fracture has hindered the season of Mol/Sorum and surely lessens their chance of repeating as Olympic champions. The dominant team of the season has been Ahman/Hellvig and I cannot see past them taking gold here. Perusic/Schweiner have not been strong since taking the World Championship but did win in Paris last year. Ehlers/Wickler were runners up and they have been consistently getting to the deep end of tournaments this year. Boermans/de Groot have also been very strong this season. George/Andre and Nicolai/Cottafava would be my other major contenders. As always the draw plays a major part. Boermans/de Groot and George/Andee will be very happy with arguably the two easiest groups. Winning the group will be key as after that the draw will be seeded.
🥇David Ahman/Jonatan Hellvig 🇸🇪
🥈George Wanderley/Andre Stein 🇧🇷
🥉Nils Ehlers/Clemens Wickler 🇩🇪
Women’s Event
United States have won medals at every edition of this event since 2000 and they have a strong hand. Cheng/Hughes (United States) are the reigning world champions and also won at the 2022 tour finals. The 2023 winners were Nuss/Kloth (United States) who came third at the 2023 World Championship. The second-place finishers were Ana Patricia/Duda (Brazil), the form team in 2023. They won five tournaments and the Pan American Games. They were world champions from 2022 where they also won two other events. The silver medal winners no longer play together but the bronze medal winners were Muller/Tillmann (Germany). They won silver at the 2023 Tour Finals and took gold in the Vienna event just before the Games. They are not the only European threat, Brunner/Huberli (Switzerland) are the current European champions. Kravcenoka/Graudina (Latvia) took that title in 2019 and 2022 whilst also finishing fourth in Tokyo. More European contenders will be Stam/Schoon (Netherlands) who won two events in 2022 and came third in the tour finals before a victory in Doha in 2023. Clancy/Artacho del Solar (Australia) are former World Championship bronze medalists who won silver in the Tokyo Olympics. They came fourth at the most recent World Championship and the last two tour finals. Bobner/Verge-Depre (Switzerland) feature half of the bronze medal team from Tokyo. Chen/Xinyi (China) won the 2023 Asian Games. Lippmann/Ludwig (Germany) won bronze at the 2023 European Championship. Alvarez/Moreno (Spain) took silver, improving from fourth in 2022. Wilkerson/Humana-Paredes(Canada) won silver at the 2023 Pan-American Games. They won in Montreal and have two second-place finishes in the 2024 Elite 16 events. Barbara/Salgado (Brazil) have a second and a third and since 2022 have been on eight podiums without taking gold.
Brazil has won seven medals in seven events and I think Ana Patricia/Duda do have a strong chance to medal. The United States has also won seven medals and has two pairs who look capable of challenging. I do prefer Nuss/Kloth over the World Champions but they have a tough draw in Pool B. Outside of that, I think the other contenders are Brunner/Huberli, Muller/Tillmann, Stam/Schoon and Wilkerson/Humana-Paredes. I think the bronze medal matchup is between Brunner/Huberli and Wilkerson/Humana-Paredes and will ultimately edge to the Swiss pair.
🥇Eduarda Santos Lisboa/Ana Patricia Ramos 🇧🇷
🥈Kristen Nuss/Taryn Kloth 🇺🇸
🥉Nina Brunner/Tanja Huberli 🇨🇭
Comments