An Inside Look at the FIVB World Tour Finals

FIVB World Tour Finals

• Rothenbaum Stadium; Hamburg, Germany
• August 15-19, 2018
• Schedule/Results

All eyes will be on Hamburg, Germany, for the second straight year as the top 10 men’s and women’s beach volleyball teams converge to crown the best of the 2018 FIVB World Tour.

Here’s a breakdown of all of the nitty gritty details of the tournament. We will break down the men’s and women’s races in a separate story.

The Money

• The total prize money for the World Tour Finals is $800,000.
• The winner’s purse is $150,000 per gender, the largest winner’s check in the history of the sport.
• In 2017, gold medalists earned $100,000 per gender, $75,000 for silver, $50,000 for bronze, $35,000 for fourth place, $20,000 for a fifth-place effort and $15,000 for ninth place.

The Format

• The 10 teams per gender will be split into two five-team pools. This is a return to the inaugural format from 2015.
• Pool play is set for Wednesday through Friday for the men and Wednesday through Saturday for the women
• The winners of each pool will earn a free pass to the semifinals
• The second and third place teams in each pool will play in the quarterfinals

The Field

• The top eight teams per gender according to the August 8 FIVB Beach World Rankings as well as two wildcard entries per gender make up the field.
• FIVB World Rankings reflect the eight best results at all FIVB recognized events over the last 365 days. The last included qualifying event was the Vienna Major, July 30-Aug. 5.
• Men
  • The men’s teams represent eight countries with Latvia and Poland each boasting two entries
  • Seven members of the field have won a FIVB World Tour event in 2017-18
  • The top eight men are led by streaking and newly crowned No. 1 Anders Mol/Christian Sorum of Norway. Mol/Sorum have won their last 19 matches including gold medals at the Gstaad Major, European Championships and Vienna Major. The pair became the youngest team ever to win the European Beach crown.
  • Rounding out the field are: Julius Thole/Clemens Wickler (Germany), Alexander Brouwer/Robert Meeuwsen (Netherlands), Piotr Kantor/Bartosz Losiak (Poland), Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Janis Smedins (Latvia), Pablo Herrera/Adrian Gavira (Spain), Martins Plavins/Edgars Tocs (Latvia), Paolo Nicolai/Daniele Lupo (Italy), Michal Bryl/Grzegorz Fijalek (Poland) and Oleg Stoyanovskiy/Igor Velichko (Russia)
  • The field includes 2016 Olympic silver medalists Paolo Nicolai/Daniele Lupo (Italy) and bronze medalists Alexander Brouwer/Robert Meeuwsen (Netherlands). Nicolai/Lupo are the lone members of the 2017 World Tour championships in the field, earning bronze a year ago.
  • Brouwer/Meeuwsen are the winningest duo in the field this year, having won three crowns (Doha Four Star, Aalsmeer One Star and Huntington Beach Four Star).
  • Herrera/Gavira are the most seasoned team in the field with 102 tournaments under their be, followed by Brouwer/Meeuwsen (78), Kantor/Losiak (77) and Lupo/Nicolai (74). Stoyanovskiy/Velichko have teamed up for just nine events.
  • Thole/Wickler qualified as the highest ranked home team despite playing in just 12 FIVB Tour events in 2017-18.
• Women
  • The women’s field includes teams from seven nations with Brazil, Canada and Germany each bringing two pairs.
  • The top eight women are led by Czech duo Barbora Hermannova/Marketa Slukova. The pair comes into Hamburg after winning the Vienna Major crown and finishing third at the CEV European Championships (July 21) and fifth at the Gstaad Major (July 15). The duo won the gold at the Ostrava Four Star on June 24. The Czechs were fifth at the 2017 World Tour Finals.
  • Rounding out the women’s field are: Chantal Laboureur/Julia Sude (Germany), Agatha Bednarczuk/Eduarda Santos Lisboa (Brazil), Maria Antonelli/Carol Solberg Salgado (Brazil), Heather Bansley/Brandie Wilkerson (Canada), Melissa Humana-Paredes/Sarah Pavan (Canada), Mariafe Artacho del Solar/Taliqua Clancy (Australia), Sanne Keizer/Madelein Meppelink (Netherlands), Isabel Schneider/Victoria Bieneck (Germany), Summer Ross/Sara Hughes (USA)
  • Agatha/Duda are the lone women’s medalists back from the 2017 World Tour Finals podium, earning silver a year ago. Agatha also collected a silver medal at the 2016 Olympics alongside then partner Barbara Seixas de Freitas.

Who’s Missing

• There will be new champions crowned in 2018 as neither the men’s or women’s reigning champions are among the field.
  • Americans Phil Dalhausser/Nick Lucena just missed qualifying as the No. 11 team in the rankings (with just the top eight earning automatic berths. Dalhausser/Lucena played in just six World Tour events in 2018
    • Fort Lauderdale Five Star (1st)
    • Doha Four Star (4th)
    • Huntington Beach Open (9th)
    • Espinho Four Star (9th)
    • Gstaad Major (5th)
    • Vienna Major (9th)
  • Germans Laura Ludwig/Kira Walkenhorst did not compete on the World Tour in 2018 due to both players becoming mothers.
• The Brazilian men. Due to several partner switches in May 2018, none of the Brazilian men’s duos earned enough qualifying points to make it into the top eight in the World Rankings.

World Tour Finals History

• 2017 – Hamburg, Germany
  • Men: Americans Phil Dalhausser/Nick Lucena won gold followed by Evandro Goncalves Oliveira/Andre Loyola Stein (Brazil) and Paolo Nicolai/Daniele Lupo (Italy).
  • Women: Germans Laura Ludwig/Kira Walkenhorst won gold followed by Agatha Bednarczuk/Eduarda ‘Duda’ Santos Lisboa (Brazil) and Larissa Franca/Talita Altunes (Brazil).
• 2016 – Toronto, Canada
  • Men: Alison Cerutti/Bruno Schmidt (Brazil) took gold, followed by Evandro Oliveira/Pedro Solberg Salgado (Brazil) and Tri Bourne/John Hyden (USA).
  • Women: Ludwig/Walkenhorst topped the podium, followed by Swiss pairs Joana Heidrich/Nadine Zumkehr and Isabelle Forrer/Anouk Verge-Depre.
• 2015 – Fort Lauderdale, Florida
  • Men: Alison Cerutti/Bruno Schmidt (Brazil) – gold; Phil Dalhausser/Nick Lucena (USA) – silver; Evandro/Pedro Solberg Salgado (Brazil) – bronze
  • Women: Larissa/Talita (Brazil) – gold; Ludwig/Walkenhorst – silver; Agatha Bednarczuk/Barbara Seixas de Freitas (Brazil) – bronze