Gstaad Major
The 2015 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championship concluded July 5, but not even the winning teams can count on a 2016 Olympic berth, making this season’s third Swatch Major Series stop, Gstaad, Switzerland on July 7–12, a critical milestone in the calendar. The new world titleholders – men and women – have come to the scenic mountain village to prove themselves all over again, along with the rest of the best.
With a record 16 consecutive years on the FIVB World Tour calendar, Gstaad is a classic destination for beach volleyball, and as the new Swatch Beach Volleyball Major Series makes its Swiss debut, it’s also the focal point for earning a coveted chunk of Olympic qualifying points – 800 for each winning team alone – as well as a share of the total purse of USD$800,000.
Olympic slots are precious. Individual countries can earn a maximum of only two for each gender, and many will have to settle for less. Brazilians Agatha Bednarczuk and Barbara Seixas, as well as their male counterparts Alison Cerutti and Bruno Schmidt, have clinched a spot for their gender by virtue of their victory at the FIVB World Championship. But with a Brazilian bench that’s phenomenally deep, there’s no guarantee that their federation will grant them the slots they’ve earned. With countries having the prerogative to determine their teams far in advance to prepare for the Games in Rio next year, it’s no wonder the Gstaad major is packed with Brazilian contenders.
How competitive is this season’s FIVB World Tour? Even Brazil’s Taiana Lima and Fernanda Alves, who earned World Championship silver, had to play a Qualification match just to get into the Gstaad Major. Wednesday’s Main Draw play saw all the women in action: Agatha and Barbara, Taiana and Fernanda, world championship bronze medalists Juliana Felisberta and Maria Antonelli, Poreç Major winners Larissa França and Talita Antunes, and Maria Clara Salgado and Carolina Solberg Salgado. Most had success in their first match of the day, though Maria Clara and Carolina were handed a loss by Larissa and Talita. Brazil isn’t the only country attracting attention. Top teams like the defending European champions Marleen Van Iersel and Madelein Meppelink of the Netherlands are on hand. And the Swatch Major Series debut of American superstars Kerri Walsh Jennings and April Ross, who have been out of the World Tour since the three-time Olympic gold medalist Walsh Jennings dislocated her shoulder in May, has been the buzz of the tournament. The Americans looked strong in defeating the unlucky Canadians who were the first to face them.
Among the men’s teams surviving Qualification on Wednesday were the fourth-place team from Worlds, Americans Nick Lucena and Theodore Brunner, and Poreç Major bronze medalists Alex Ranghieri and Adrian Carambula, Big names as the week continues will include the rest of the World Championship Semifinalists: Alison and Bruno Schmidt; World bronze medalists and Stavanger Major winners Evandro Goncalves and Pedro Solberg of Brazil; and World silver medalists and Poreç Major winners Reinder Nummerdor and Christiaan Varenhorst of the Netherlands.
Gstaad marks the last chance for all the athletes to prove their mettle in the Swatch Major Series this season, as the World Tour accelerates toward the Swatch Beach Volleyball FIVB World Tour Finals in Fort Lauderdale September 29 through October 4, 2015