Gstaad, Switzerland, November 1, 2018 - For the 20th-straight season, Gstaad will host an FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour stop as the Swiss Alps village continues to pad the international beach volleyball record book by hosting more events than any other site on planet Earth.
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Only 10 sites have hosted 10 or more FIVB-sanctioned events as Gstaad started its string of hosting World Tour events in 2000 for a women's only event with the men joining the program in 2001. Klagenfurt ranks second on the list by staging 18 men's and 13 women's tournaments from 1997 through 2016 with the Austrian city hosting European Championships in 2013 and 2015.
Highlighting Gstaad's place on the international schedule was the host role for the 2007 FIVB World Championships where the American pairs of Phil Dalhausser/Todd Rogers and Misty May-Treanor/Kerri Walsh Jennings topped the men's and women's podiums, respectively, by defeating teams from Russia and China.
The Swiss-born Dalhausser has captured more gold medals than any other men's player with four titles, including other podium-topping finishes with Rogers in 2010, Sean Rosenthal in 2014 and Nick Lucena in 2017. Dalhausser also placed second with Rogers in 2011 and Lucena in 2016.
While Dalhausser leads the men, May-Treanor and Walsh Jennings topped Gstaad podiums six times together in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2012. Brazilian Larissa Franca has five gold medal finishes in Gstaad, including three with Juliana Felisberta (2005, 2010, 2011) and two with Talita Antunes (2015 and 2016).
A Swiss team has placed twice on the Gstaad podium when Olympians Patrick Heuscher and Stefan Kobel captured the men's gold medal in 2004 after placing third in 2003 on the Swiss village center court.
Austrian Clemens Doppler has competed in the most Gstaad events with 17 appearances while legendary Brazilians Ricardo Santos and Emanuel Rego have competed in 16 and 15 Swiss village events, respectively. Emanuel and Ricardo claimed two Gstaad men's gold medals together in 2005 and 2016. Emanuel won a third title in 2011 with Alison Cerutti and Ricardo gathered his third gold medal in 2013 with Alvaro Filho.
Olympian Isabelle Forrer has appeared in the most women's Gstaad events with 15 participations with Walsh Jennings appearing 14 times. Olympians Simone Kuhn and Nadine Zumkehr needed Switzerland's only women's medal in Gstaad with a third-place finish in 2012 after losing to May-Treanor and Walsh Jennings in the semifinals.