All of the title favourites were in attendance as well as a team from the home nation Croatia as the sand started to fly in the group stage of the stop. Let’s get straight into the action and find out who’s looking good to make the elimination round on Sunday.

The women’s 50kg division saw the winner of the past two stops, Ana PIRVU (ROU) start her group stage match ups with a loss against her biggest rival for the title, Viktoriia SLOBODENIUK. The Ukrainian took the win courtesy of the last point won tie-breaker. Pirvu did bounce back with a win over American Mariah Anderson in her 2nd match. Slobodeniuk finished the day 2 for 2 with a win over Valerie CARREON (USA). France’s Justine VIGOUROUX also finished with two opening day wins. First, she beat Claudia CABRERA (ARG) before picking up the win over Alvetyana LIASHENKO (UKR) leaving both in a great position to make the elimination round.

The women’s 60kg division looks like a straight fight between three Ukrainians with Sofiia KUSHNIR, Anastasiya KRAVCHENKO and Sofiia BORDINSKYKH all in the hunt for the title. Kravchenko will be happy with her day’s work, picking up two wins as she defeated Bordinskykh in her opener, before winning in quick fashion after 11 seconds against home sand star Stella KARTALIJA (CRO). Sofiia KUSHNIR also tasted opening day victory with a win over Mihaela CIRIC (SLO).

Reigning women’s 70kg World Champion Oksana HEREL (UKR) had a great start to the final leg of the season as she finished the day with 2 wins out of 2. First up she got the better of title rival and teammate Viktoriia HRYTSENKO, then won via tie-break in her second outing with it finishing 1-1 against Dimitra ANDROUTSOU (GRE). Team USA’s Olivia Haven PIZANO finished with 3 wins from 3 having won a prelim bout to take her place in the group stage. Pizano then defeated Dimitra ANDROUTSOU and Viktoriia Hyrtsenko to possibly end the Ukrainians’ title push and earn her a spot in the elimination rounds.

The two main contenders for the women’s +70kg division met in the first group stage match as current champ “The Bomm” Eliana BOMMARITO faced up against Romanian Olympian and two-time Beach Wrestling World Champ Catalina AXENTE. Axente took the lead before Bommarito came back to win the tie 2-1. Axente bounced back with a win over Daria KONSTANTYNOVA (UKR). The American all but secured her spot in the knockouts with a second win, this time beating Stefania ZACHEILA (GRE). 2023 silver medallist Liudmyla PAVLOVETS TYCHYNA (UKR) kept her own title hopes alive with two wins of her own beating Aikaterini Eirini PITSIAVA (GRE) and Angelique GONZALEZ (FRA).

Reigning men’s 70kg Beach Wrestling World Series Champion Younus COSKUN (TUR) has won the past two Beach Wrestling World Series stops and it looks like he will be in the mix to make it three event golds in a row, but more importantly back-to-back world titles. He started this crucial leg with two wins edging out both Quentin STICKER (FRA) and Ivan SEMENOV on tie breaks having scored the last point in each match, both finishing 1-1. 2023 silver medallist and Coskun’s main rival for the gold Oleskii BORUTA (UKR) showed he’s ready to pounce on any slip up with wins over Justin BENJAMIN (USA) and Valentin SEIMETZ (GER).

Vasile DIACON (MDA) is hoping to take home the men’s 80kg title and become the first Moldovan to do so but he will need to make sure he’s at his best in his final group match on Sunday; a defeat in his opening matchup against Christos CHRISTOFORIDIS (GRE) leaves him needing a win to qualify. He did pick up a second-round win over Diego MAKHARADZE (GEO) with a three-point finish when the scores were level at 2-2 giving him a 5-2 win. Reining champ Hugo CUENOT (FRA) lost out to Azerbaijani medal hopeful Ramiz HASANOV in his opening round tie before winning his second-round bout against Serbian Miljan RAJIC. Hasanov won his second-round tie in 13 seconds with a 3 point finish over Ramaz ZOIDZE (GEO).

Azerbaijan’s back-to-back men’s 90kg World Champion Ibrahim YUSUBOV is looking for a three-peat and his title defence got off to fantastic start picking up two wins without losing a point. First up he bested Traian CAPATINA (MDA) winning with 30 seconds left on the clock and then took a minute and a half to beat Ukrainian Nazar DOD to all but book his place in the eliminations. Mahmut Seyfi OZKAYA (TUR) also picked up two wins to stay firmly on Yusubov’s trail with wins over Oleksii YAKOVCHUK (UKR) and Mathis Damien Leon MAYRAND (FRA).

The men’s +90kg division looks like a straight shootout between the golden Georgian Mamuka KORDZAIA and current World Champion Fatih Yasarli (TUR) but with quadruple ranking points on offer, as with all the divisions there is always the chance for an outsider to come and take the title. 2023 Open Weight Sumo World Champion Oleksandr VERESIUK (UKR) may be one of those outsiders having made an impressive debut last time out in Katerini he finished his opening day with three wins from three. He was drawn in the preliminary round knockout match with Quentin Michel Arthur MILLIERE (FRA) and after winning that he also defeated Italy’s Alessio Salvatore VANDI and Gabriel Carlos RANGEL from the US. Reigning champ Yasarli and 2023 silver medallist Kordzaia also won their two opening group matches with Yasarli also beating Rangel and Vandi. Kordzaia with wins over Kyle FERRITER (USA) and Vazha DAIAURI (UKR).

A phenomenal first day here in Poreč sets everything up nicely for the big finale on Sunday where the 2024 Beach Wrestling World Champions will be unveiled as the greatest show on sand reaches its climax.

If you can’t make it sand side watch the live stream over on the Beach Wrestling World Series YouTube Channel or check the results on www.beachwrestling.org to keep you up to date with the latest from the sandy circles as the Kings and Queens of 2024 are coronated.