Lausanne, Switzerland, June 29, 2014—With three consecutive major events just concluded in Stavanger, Norway Sunday, the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) will enjoy a well-earned one-week ‘breather’ before continuing with four consecutive huge events in four countries on the calendar of its 2014 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour.
Two of the upcoming four FIVB Grand Slam tournaments will have FIVB Grand Slam-record US$1,000,000 purses while the other two will each have purses of $800,000. The 2014 FIVB World Tour will resume in Switzerland, July 8-13 with the vastly popular $800,000 FIVB Gstaad Grand Slam.
Last week’s double-gender $800,000 FIVB Stavanger Grand Slam saw the United States win both the men’s and women’s gold medals. Brazil and Switzerland earned the other two men’s medals while Spain and Slovakia captured the other two women’s medals in the fourth double-gender FIVB Grand Slam on the 2014 calendar. The FIVB Stavanger Grand Slam was the eighth event of the 2014 FIVB World Tour as well as being the fourth of 10 double-gender FIVB Grand Slam tournaments currently on the 2014 calendar.
STAVANGER MEN
In the men’s competition in Stavanger, winning the gold medal in a two-set finale for the United States was Phil Dalhausser/Season Rosenthal over Brazil’s Alvaro Filho/Ricardo Santos as both teams earned their first medals of the 2014 FIVB World Tour. Capturing the bronze medal was Switzerland’s Philip Gabathuler/Mirco Gerson who advanced from the qualifier to defeat the first-time final four team of Alexey Sidorenko/Alexandr Dyachenko of Kazakhstan. It was the fourth career team FIVB gold medal for in 13 events together for USA’s Dalhausser/Rosenthal, the 27th individual career FIVB gold medal for Dalhausser and the eighth for Rosenthal.
STAVANGER WOMEN
In their third winning performance in a five events this season and fifth FIVB gold medals in eight tournaments as a team, the women’s gold medal went to USA’s April Ross/Kerri Walsh Jennings in two sets over Spain’s Liliana Fernandez/Elsa Baquerizo. In the women’s bronze medal match, Slovakia’s Natalia Dubovcova/Dominika Nestarcova held on to earn a three-set win over Netherlands’ 2014 CEV European Champions Marleen van Iersel/Madelein Meppelink for the first medal for the team and for Slovakia in FIVB World Tour history.
It was the 15th career FIVB individual gold medal for A. Ross and 49th for Walsh Jennings. In five events this year, A. Ross/Walsh Jennings have now earned gold medals in Fuzhou, China, Moscow and Stavanger on the 2014 FIVB World Tour.
MEN’S WINNERS MOVE UP
The FIVB Stavanger Grand Slam men’s champions (USA’s Dalhausser/Rosenthal) were competing in just their fifth event on the FIVB World Tour and moved up to third in 2014 season points and to the top of the earnings list.
WOMEN’S WINNERS MOVE UP TOO
The FIVB Stavanger Grand Slam women’s gold medal winners (USA/s A. Ross/Walsh Jennings) moved up to second in the season point standings and top the money standings by an even wider margin.
Gold in the FIVB Stavanger Grand Slam earned $57,000 for the winning team in each gender to split with $43,000 split by each silver medal team, $32,000 split by each of the two bronze medalists and $24,000 split by each of the fourth place teams.
SKED TRIFECTA
The 2014 FIVB World Tour finished a run of three consecutive double-gender $800,000FIVB Grand Slams in Norway. After Moscow three weeks ago and Berlin two weeks ago, the tour moved to Stavanger for last week’s event to complete the triple.
MEN’S POINTS/EARNINGS
The top three teams in each gender at FIVB Grand Slam events receive 800, 720 and 640 points respectively on the 2014 FIVB World Tour.
Latvia’s Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Janis Smedins has 2,890 points to lead the men’s 2014 FIVB World Tour point standings followed by Italy’s Daniele Lupo/Paolo Nicolai with 2,580, USA’s Dalhausser/Rosenthal with 2,400, Brazil’s Emanuel Rego/Pedro Salgado with 2,260 and USA’s John Hyden/Tri Bourne fifth with 2,240 points.
In the 2014 FIVB World Tour men’s season earnings, the new leading team is USA’s Dalhausser/Rosenthal with $115,000 followed by Italy’s Lupo/Nicolai with $114,000 followed by Latvia’s Samoilovs/J. Smedins with $103,500, USA’s Hyden/Bourne with $94,800 and Russia’s Konstantin Semenov/Viacheslav Krasilnikov with $84,200.
WOMEN’S POINTS/EARNINGS
For the women, Brazil’s Juliana Felisberta/Maria Antonelli are still at the top with 3,120 points followed by USA’s A. Ross/Walsh Jennings with 3,060; China’s Fan Wang/Yuan Yue with 3,020, Brazil’s Agatha Bednarczuk/Barbara Seixas with 2,700 and China’s Chen Xue/Xinyi Xia with 2,460.
In the 2014 FIVB World Tour women’s season earnings, continuing to lead is USA’s A. Ross/Walsh Jennings with $159,000 followed by China’s Fan Wang/Yuan Yue with $103,175, Brazil’s Juliana/Antonelli with $101,375, Spain’s Baquerizo/Fernandez with $95,000 and Brazil’s defending FIVB World Tour season point champions Talita Antunes/Taiana Lima with $90,750.
MEN’S FINAL FOURS
In seven men’s tournaments so far in 2014 on the FIVB World Tour 11 countries have at least one final four placement. With five final four placements to lead the way so far is Brazil (two silver medals, one bronze, two fourth places). With four final four placements each are Latvia (two gold medals, one silver, one fourth), Italy (two gold medals, one silver, one fourth) and the United States (two gold medals, one silver, one bronze). Switzerland has three final four placements (two bronze medals, one fourth). Germany has two final fours (one bronze, one fourth) as does Russia (one gold, one silver) and. Kazakhstan (fourth), Netherlands (bronze), Mexico (bronze) and Poland (silver) have the other final four placements so far with one final four for each country.
WOMEN’S FINAL FOURS
In eight women’s events to start the year, 10 countries have earned at least one final four finish. Brazil leads with eight final four placements (one gold, four silvers, one bronze and two fourths), Germany has six final fours (two gold medals, one silver, two bronzes and one fourth). China has four (one silver, two bronze, one fourth). The United States has three final four placements (three gold medals) as does Spain (one silver, two fourths). Czech Republic has two final fours (two gold medals) as does Netherlands (one bronze, one fourth) and Russia (one silver, one bronze) and Austria (one fourth), and Slovakia (one bronze) have one final four finish each.
MEN’S WINNING PERCENTAGE
Based on percentage, statistically, in men’s action after seven events, Italy’s Lupo/Nicolai is 24-6 (80.0% winning percentage) followed by USA’s Dalhausser/Rosenthal with a 22-6 record (78.6%), Latvia’s Samoilovs/J. Smedins with a 28-8 record (77.8 percent), while fourth is Brazil’s Alison Cerutti/Bruno Oscar Schmidt with a 22-8 mark (73.3%) and tied for fifth at 71.4% percent each team is USA’s John Hyden/Tri Bourne (25-10) and Brazil’s Alvaro Filho/Ricardo Santos (15-6). The 28 victories by Latvia’s Samoilovs/J. Smedins is the most by any men’s team so far this season.
WOMEN’S WINNING PERCENTAGE
For the women to date following eight 2014 FIVB World Tour events, USA’s April Ross/Kerri Walsh Jennings continue to lead with a 29-2 record (93.5%) while second is Brazil’s Juliana/Antonelli with a 37-10 record (78.7%), third so far is Czech Republic’s Slukova/Kolocova with a 18-5 record (78.3%) while fourth is Brazil’s Talita/Lima with a 23-7 record (76.7%) and fifth is Brazil’s Bednarczu/Seixas with a 26-9 record (74.3%). The 37 match wins by Brazil’s Juliana/Antonelli is the most by any team on this year’s FIVB World Tour.