Lausanne, Switzerland, July 8, 2019 - After ten days of competition at the 2019 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships in Germany where pairs from Canada and Russia captured the gold medals, the FIVB World Tour continues this week with events in Italy, Korea and Switzerland.
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The featured event will be in the Swiss Alps where the village of Gstaad will celebrate the 20th anniversary for the FIVB World Tour stop that started in June 2000 with a women's-only tournament with men's competition added to the programme in 2001.
While the top-ranked men's and women's players will be competing in Gstaad including recently-crowned world champions Melissa Humana-Paredes/Sarah Pavan of Canada and Viacheslav Krasilnikov/Oleg Stoyanovskiy of Russia, the FIVB World Tour will also stage events in Daegu, Korea, and Alba Adriatica, Italy.
The $600,000 Gstaad Major begins Tuesday with men's and women's qualifying with the main draw rounds beginning Wednesday. The men's finale is scheduled for Saturday and the women's medal matches are set for Sunday with the winning teams splitting the $40,000 first-place prizes.
Humana-Paredes and Pavan are the defending Gstaad Major champions after defeating Chantal Laboureur/Julia Sude of Germany in the 2018 women's finale. Anders Mol and Christian Sorum of Norway, who placed third at the 2019 FIVB World Championships, are the reigning Gstaad champions after defeating Spaniards Adrian Gavira/Pablo Herrera in the 2018 gold medal match.
Both the Korean and Italian sites this week feature women's-only tournaments as Daegu hosts an FIVB event for the third-straight season and Alba Adriatica was a European event added to the 2018-2019 season schedule. Both events end Sunday with Daegu starting Thursday and Alba Adriatica beginning Friday.
While Humana-Paredes/Pavan and Krasilnikov/Stoyanovskiy were punching a ticket for their country in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, the FIVB also staged an event in China last week where pairs from Austria and the host country topped the men's and women's podium, respectively, the $50,000 Qidong Open.
Here are the results from Sunday's medal matches in Germany and China.
Germany - Hamburg, June 28-July 6, US$500,000, FIVB women's event No. 405
1. Melissa Humana-Paredes/Sarah Pavan, Canada, $60,000
2. Alix Klineman/April Ross, United States, $45,000
3. Mariafe Artacho/Taliqua Clancy, Australia, $35,000
4. Nina Betschart/Tanja Huberli, Switzerland, $28,000
Gold - Humana-Paredes/Pavan def. Klineman/Ross, 23-21, 23-21 (58 minutes)
Bronze - Artacho/Clancy def. Betschart/Huberli, 21-18, 22-20 (51)
The women's podium placers at the World Championships with the presenters
Germany - Hamburg, June 28-July 7, US$500,000, FIVB men's event No. 438
1. Viacheslav Krasilnikov/Oleg Stoyanovskiy, Russia, $60,000
2. Julius Thole/Clemens Wickler, Germany, $45,000
3. Anders Mol/Christian Sorum, Norway, $35,000
4. Tri Bourne/Trevor Crabb, United States, $28,000
Gold - Krasilnikov/Stoyanovskiy def. Thole/Wickler, 19-21, 21-17, 15-11 (72)
Bronze - Mol/Sorum def. Bourne/Crabb, 19-21, 21-15, 15-10 (62)
World Championship podium placers from Germany, Russia and Norway with FIVB president Dr. Ary S. Graça F°
China - Qidong, July 4-7, US$25,000, FIVB men's event No. 438
1. Christoph Dressler Alexander Huber, Austria, $4,000
2. Peter Eglseer/Florian Schnetzer, Austria, $3,000
3. Surin Jongklang/Adisorn Khaolumtarn, Thailand, $2,000
4. Maxim Sivolap/Artem Yarzutkin, Russia, $1,400
Gold - Dressler/Huber def. Eglseer/Schnetzer, 21-18, 21-13 (37)
Bronze - Jongklang/Khaolumtarn def. Sivolap/Yarzutkin, 24-22, 24-22 (43)
China - Qidong, July 4-7, US$25,000, FIVB women's event No. 406
1. Jingzhe Wang/Shuhui Wen, China, $4,000
2. Michaela Kubickova/Michala Kvapilova, Czech Republic, $3,000
3. Yurika Sakaguchi/Chiyo Suzuki, Japan, $2, 00
4. Nai-Han Kou Pi/Hsin Liu, Chinese Taipei, $1,400
Gold - Wang/Wen def. Kubickova/Kvapilova, 21-14, 14-21, 15-7 (47)
Bronze - Sakaguchi/Suzuki def. Kou/Liu, 21-17, 21-11 (38)
The podium placers at the 2019 Qidong Open