FIVB Beach Volleyball Grand Slam returns to Klagenfurt in 2014

Considered by many as the premier event on the international beach volleyball calendar, the capital of the federal state of Carinthia in Austria will host the FIVB Klagenfurt Grand Slam, the ninth double-gender grand slam event on the 2014 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour. This year’s event will be held July 29 to August 3 as the iconic event returns after a one-year absence as Klagenfurt hosted the 2012 European Championships.

This year will mark an unprecedented 17th time in the last 18 years that the Lake Wörthersee site has hosted the international circuit. While the men’s World Tour has been in Klagenfurt 16 straight times from 1997 through 2012 for this magical summer festival, the women’s World Tour has been in held in this location for 12 consecutive years from 2001 through 2012.

This year’s FIVB Klagenfurt Grand Slam will be the ninth Grand Slam of the 2014 season and the last in a string of seven FIVB Grand Slams to be held over an eight-week window. The seven consecutive FIVB Grand Slam events start in Moscow, Russia (June 10 to 5) and ends in Klagenfurt.

Austria has hosted a total of 28 FIVB World Tour events (16 men, 12 women-all in Klagenfurt) during a 16-year period with Brazil leading the medal count in both genders.  In the men’s totals, Brazil has 24 medals, followed by the USA with nine, Germany with five, the Netherlands and Norway with three each, Switzerland with two and with one men’s medal each in Klagenfurt are Argentina and Russia.

After 12 FIVB World Tour women’s events held in Klagenfurt, Austria, Brazil leads the medal parade with 15 medals followed by the USA with 11, Germany and China with four each, the Netherlands with two and with one women’s medal in Klagenfurt are the Czech Republic, Russia and Ukraine.

At the 2012 FIVB Klagenfurt Grand Slam, the Netherlands' veteran Olympians Reinder Nummerdor/Richard Schuil won the men's gold medal while the new Russian team of Ekaterina Khomyakova/Evgenia Ukolova did the same in the women's competition.

Klagenfurt is the capital of the federal state of Carinthia in Austria. With a population of over 90,000, it is the sixth-largest city in the country. The city of Klagenfurt is located in southern Austria, midway across the nation, near the international border. It rests in the middle region, almost as far from Innsbruck, to the west, as from Vienna, to the northeast. At 446 meters (1,463 feet) above sea level, Klagenfurt is located on Lake Wörthersee and on the Glan River. The city is surrounded by several forest-covered hills and mountains with heights of up to 1,000m (3,300ft). To the south is the Karawanken mountain range, which separates Carinthia from Slovenia and Italy.

The 2014 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour will include 10 double-gender FIVB Grand Slam tournaments along with the inaugural FIVB Grand Slam and eleven FIVB Beach Volleyball Open events.

This year's FIVB World Ranking system will include FIVB Beach Volleyball Grand Slam and Open events along with additional pre-approved events at the inter-continental, continental and national levels.

Implemented in 2013, the format of all the FIVB Beach Volleyball international tournaments – whether FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships, FIVB Beach Volleyball Grand Slam or FIVB Beach Volleyball Open – are the same, featuring pool play followed by single elimination knockout rounds.

The 2014-2016 FIVB Beach Volleyball Continental Cup also returns this year as it starts its portion of the qualification process for the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games.