Macaluso, Cook, White, Shalack in top eight ranking for 2023 World Beach Games after three of the five qualifiers

Mia Macaluso (USA) competing in the Beach World Series in Greece. Macaluso is ranked No. 5 in the qualifying standings for the World Beach Games. Photo courtesy of Mia Macaluso.

With three of the five qualifying events completed, athletes from the United States are currently positioned high enough in the standings to potentially qualify at four weight classes for the World Beach Games in Bali, Indonesia, August 6-12, 2023.

The qualifying standings for the World Beach Games include the last three Beach World Series events of 2022 (held in France, Greece and Romania) and the first two Beach World Series of 2023 (which are not yet scheduled).

The USA is currently among the top eight nations at the following weight classes: Women 50 kg, Women 60 kg, Women Over 70 kg and Men 70 kg.

Individual athletes score qualifying points, and if they place among the top eight nations at the end of the qualifying process, they earn a quota spot for their nation for the World Beach Games. It is important to note that they do not qualify themselves for the World Beach Games, but they qualify their nation to compete at that weight class.

A nation may only earn one entry at each weight class for the World Beach Games.

The individual U.S. athletes who are ranked among the top eight spots include:
No. 5 at 60 kg women – Mia Macaluso, Otisville, N.Y.
No. 6 at 70 kg men – Mitchell Cook, Orland Park, Ill.
No. 7 at 50 kg women – Laura White, Duanesburg, N.Y.
No. 7 at Over 70 kg women – Isabeau Shalack, Oak Lawn, Ill.
No. 8 at Over 70 kg women – Maren Anderson, Tinley Park, Ill.

One U.S. athlete, Ty Loethen of Columbia, Mo. is ranked at No. 10 at 80 kg men. There are eight nations ranked higher than Loethen in the current standings, which puts him in a strong position entering the final two qualifiers.

In order to qualify, these specific U.S. athletes will likely have to enter one or both of the first two 2023 Beach World Series events to finish among the top eight nations in the final standings.

USA athletes have scored qualifying points in seven of the eight weight classes. In total, 12 U.S. athletes are in the standings after the first three of the five World Beach Games qualifying events.

The qualifying process for the U.S. wrestling team for the World Beach Games has not been finalized.

The first World Beach Games was held in Qatar in 2019. The United States had five wrestlers compete in the event, led by bronze medalist Shauna Kemp at 60 kg in women’s Beach Wrestling.

2023 WORLD BEACH GAMES BALI QUALIFICATION STANDINGS
(after three of five qualifying events)
Note: Bold type identifies highest point scorer for each nation, showing the top eight nations in each weight.

50 kg women
1 ROU Stefania Claudia PRICEPUTU 42000
2 IND Kumari HANNY 40000
3 TUR Emine CATALOGLU 36000
4 FRA Justine Fanny VIGOUROUX 31400
5 HUN Bianka RECZI 24000
6 ROU Alina Adriana CORBEANU 23200
7 USA Laura Elizabeth WHITE 21500
8 BUL Miglena Georgieva SELISHKA 20000
9 ESP Cristina ANDUJAR OJEDA 18900

60 kg women
1 UKR Iryna CHYKHRADZE 58000
2 ROU Elena Simona IONESCU 44300
3 UKR Daria MEDVETSKA 40500
4 ESP Maria Victoria BAEZ DILONE 30000
5 USA Mia Kaur MACALUSO 25400
6 FRA Aurore CABANNE 23400
7 IND Kusum KUSUM 23200
8 FRA Lilou DUPINAY 20600
9 ROU Denisa Iuliana FODOR 18800
10 USA Josephine Sue WEARMOUTH 14000
11 HUN Nikolett SZABO 12400

70 kg women
1 BUL Mimi Nikolova HRISTOVA 40000
2 FRA Manon KURY 39000
3 BUL Sofiya Hristova GEORGIEVA 32000
4 ROU Adina Ionela IRIMIA 30800
5 UKR Yuliia KREMEZNA MALYK 29900
6 TUR Hatice Ece TEKIN 28800
7 GRE Agoro PAPAVASILEIOU 28700
8 HUN Viktoria FELHO 26000
9 POR Sonia Marina PEREIRA BRAZIO 21100

Over 70 kg women
1 ROU Catalina AXENTE 60000
2 UKR Liudmyla PAVLOVETS TYCHYNA 48000
3 GRE Stefania ZACHEILA 38300
4 GRE Aikaterini Eirini PITSIAVA 28200
5 FRA Angelique Carole GONZALEZ 22500
6 IND Reetika REETIKA 20000
7 USA Isabeau Marie SHALACK 18800
8 USA Maren Angelina ANDERSON 18400
9 NOR Cathrine FRILSETH 17600
10 ESP Noelia LALIN CANDA 16200

70 kg men
1 GEO Levan KELEKHSASHVILI 60000
2 AZE Ramiz HASANOV 45000
3 ROU Stefan Ionut COMAN 37000
4 TUR Yunus COSKUN 34000
5 FRA Quentin Jean-René STICKER 26500
6 USA Mitchell Kenneth COOK 23400
7 ROU Gheorghe Constantin CONSTANTIN 20000
8 AZE Rubail IBRAHIMLI 18800
9 IND Rahul GULIA 17600
10 ROU Dumitru Alin SPIRIDON 12400
11 MDA Ion MARCU 11200

80 kg men
1 GEO Nika KENCHADZE 60000
2 HUN Csaba VIDA 40000
3 ROU Maxim VASILIOGLO 37000
4 AZE Omid Abdolali KAMALIAGHDAM 33000
5 IND Vijay VIJAY 26000
6 ESP Pablo GARCIA GARCIA 20600
7 AZE Farid YUSIFOV 18800
8 BUL Dimitar Atanasov ANGELOV 17600
9 NED Abdussamed TURGUT 16400

90 kg men
1 AZE Ibrahim YUSUBOV 56500
2 GEO David KHUTSISHVILI 39200
3 TUR Mahmut Seyfi OZKAYA 36000
4 AZE Farid JABBAROV 32000
5 GEO Dato PIRUZASHVILI 29900
6 ROU Mihai Nicolae PALAGHIA 20000
7 IND Suryapratap SURYAPRATAP 18800
8 FRA Mathis Damien Leon MAYRAND 17800
9 BEL Jonas VAN CAENEGHEM 17400
10 GRE Christos SAMARTSIDIS 16200

Over 90 kg men
1 TUR Fatih YASARLI 50000
2 GEO Mamuka KORDZAIA 50000
3 ROU Vasile Vlad CARAS 33700
4 BUL Georgi Lyubomirov IVANOV 26000
5 GRE Rafail GKIRNIS 21700
6 GRE Achilleas CHRYSIDIS 20400
7 IND Ashish ASHISH 20000
8 GEO Maradi VANADZE 18800
9 HUN Richard VEGH 18000
10 FRA Luc Rene ZANETTON 17700

Currently in top eight of weight class (top eight nations qualify for World Beach Games)
No. 5 at 60 kg women – Mia Macaluso, Otisville, N.Y.
No. 6 at 70 kg men – Mitchell Cook, Orland Park, Ill.
No. 7 at 50 kg women – Laura White, Duanesburg, N.Y.
No. 7 at Over 70 kg women – Isabeau Shalack, Oak Lawn, Ill.
No. 8 at Over 70 kg women – Maren Anderson, Tinley Park, Ill.

Other U.S. athletes in rankings for World Beach Games
No. 10 at 80 kg men – Ty Loethen, Columbia, Mo. (16,000 pts.)
No. 10 at 60 kg women – Josephine Wearmouth, St. Charles, Iowa (14,000 pts.)
No. 12 at 60 kg women – Isabella Hoffman, Tega Cay, S.C. (10,000 pts.)
No. 14 at 80 kg men – Jamal Morris, Miami, Fla. (10,000 pts)
No. 14 at Over 90 kg men – Mark Bonilla, Marietta, Ga. (8,400 pts.)
No. 15 at 90 kg men – Jabari Irons, Fort Meyers, Fla. (8,400 pts.)
No. 16 at 70 kg men – Michael Clark, Louisville, Ky. (7,200 pts)