Elite action moves to Brasilia; Thamela & Victoria lead the women’s bracket

Reigning Olympic champions and 2024 Brasilia Elite16 gold medalists Ana Patricia Ramos & Eduarda Santos Lisboa (Duda) of Brazil will start their Pool C campaign against Lithuanian Olympians Monika Paulikiene & Aine Raupelyte. That pool is headed by USA’s Terese Cannon & Megan Kraft, currently fourth in the World Ranking and seeded third in the upcoming tournament. The American pair achieved a fifth place result in Saquarema, putting an end to a podium streak that lasted five Beach Pro Tour stops in a row, including silver medals at December’s Doha Finals and at the Quintana Roo Elite in Mexico a couple of weeks ago.

Pool D will be headed by the world’s number three team, Tina Graudina & Anastasija Samoilova of Latvia, seeded fourth in the tournament. After collecting a few medals in the previous Tour seasons, most recently a bronze at the 2024 Doha Finals, and reaching the number one spot in the World Ranking, the two-time Olympians are now looking for the first podium in 2025. Their pool also features the newly formed Swiss pairing of Paris 2024 bronze medalist Tanja Huberli with 19-year-old rising star Leona Kernen. They have already collected their first Tour medal, a Yucatan Challenge silver in March. Brazil’s Andressa Cavalcanti & Taina Bigi will be Huberli & Kernen’s first opponent in Brasilia.

Seeded fifth in the main draw, Brazilian standouts Carol Solberg & Rebecca Cavalcanti will headline Pool E. The new Brazilian pair has had mixed results on the Tour so far. In between two ninth-place finishes, they triumphed as gold medalists at the Quintana Roo Elite in March. After making their Beach Pro Tour debut as a team last week in Saquarema, Swiss star sisters Anouk Verge-Depre & Zoe Verge-Depre will also start from Pool E in Saquarema. This is one of the two pools that will feature two teams from the qualifiers.