Presentation
Portugal to host the FIVB Beach Volleyball U19 World Championships for the second time
Portugal is again returning to the beach volleyball world stage as the coastal city of Porto will host the FIVB Beach Volleyball U19 World Championships for the second time. This year’s 12th annual double-gender event for players under the age of 19 will be held from July 10-14 in Porto, a metropolitan area of nearly 1.7m located along the Douro River estuary in northern Portugal. Porto is the second-largest urban area in Portugal behind Lisbon.
Portugal has a long history of hosting FIVB international beach volleyball events with 13 men’s tournaments and nine women’s having been held in Espinho, two for each gender on the island of Porto Santo in addition to the 2010 FIVB U19 World Championships in Porto.
After finishing fifth in Alanya in 2009, the United States tandem of Jane Croson/Summer Ross captured the gold medal in 2010 in Porto. It was the first women’s medal for USA in this event.
At last year’s FIVB U19 World Championships in Larnaka, Cyprus, Poland’s Michal Bryl/Kacper Kujawiak defeated compatriots and 2011 FIVB U19 world champions Lukasz Kaczmarek/Sebastian Kaczmarek in three sets to win the men’s gold medal while Lithuania’s Dumbauskaite/Povilaityte won the first FIVB gold medal for their country by defeating Poland’s 2011 FIVB U19 world champions Karolina Baran/Katarzyna Kociolek in two sets in the women’s final.
The youth world championships have seen the medal and “final four” count distributed among 24 countries as compared to 20 nations for the U21 event. Poland leads with six combined gold medals won (four men and two women). The German men and women have combined to capture five U18/19 gold medals total as Christine Aulenbrock and Victoria Bieneck topped the women’s podium in 2009 at Alanya, Turkey. Germany leads in total combined medals with 18 (nine men and nine women) and is second to Poland (18) with 15 “final four” finishes. Poland (Nine men, four women) and Germany (nine women and four men) are tied with 13 combined medals and Poland has the most combined “final four” placements with 18 total (11 men and seven women) with Germany second with 15 total (six men and nine women). Besides Germany and Poland, the Netherlands is only other country with multi-U18/19 world titles with a pair of women’s gold medals in 2002 and 2007.
The age for the competition was changed in 2005 for players under the age of 19.
All-time U19 Final Four Placements (including 2012)
Boys | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Medals | 4ths | Final 4s |
Poland | 4 | 2 | 3 | 9 | 2 | 11 |
Germany | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 6 |
Russia | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
Canada | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
Brazil | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
Ukraine | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
Italy | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
United States | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
Spain | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Norway | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Slovenia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Estonia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Lithuania | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Latvia | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Greece | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
France | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Mexico | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Switzerland | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Girls | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Medals | 4ths | Final 4s |
Germany | 3 | 1 | 5 | 9 | 0 | 9 |
Poland | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 7 |
Netherlands | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 5 |
Brazil | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 5 |
Russia | 0 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 5 |
Australia | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
Lithuania | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
United States | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Czech Rep. | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Austria | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Italy | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
China | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
France | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Mexico | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Switzerland | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |