Lausanne, Switzerland, September 10, 2019 - In a season where a record number of events were played at a record number of sites with a record number of participants, the 2018-2019 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour concluded this past weekend at the World Tour Finals in Rome with the Russian world champions Viacheslav Krasilnikov and Oleg Stoyanovskiy claiming victory in the men's competition and Germany's Laura Ludwig and Margareta Kozuch winning the women's.
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The 2018-2019 FIVB World Tour visited 56 sites in 37 countries over a 13-month period spanning from August 2018 to September 2019 featuring 49 men’s and 47 women’s events within all five confederations (African, Asian, European, NORCECA and South American), offering US$7.5 million in prize money.
A total of 1,379 players from 79 countries participated during the 2018-2019 season where the featured events were played in Germany for the World Championships in Hamburg and in Italy for the World Tour Finals. In between both events, Beach Major Series stops were staged in Switzerland and Austria.
At the season-ending on Sunday in Rome at the Foro Italico, the men's finale was a rematch of the 2019 FIVB World Championships in Hamburg as Russians Viacheslav Krasilnikov/Oleg Stoyanovskiy again defeated Julius Thole/Clemens Wickler of Germany for the title.
Italy - Rome, September 4-8, $300,000, FIVB men's event No. 458
1. Viacheslav Krasilnikov/Oleg Stoyanovskiy, Russia, $40,000
2. Julius Thole/Clemens Wickler, Germany, $32,000
3. Anders Mol/Christian Sorum, Norway, $20,000
4. Taylor Crabb/Jake Gibb, United States, $16,000
Gold - Krasilnikov/Stoyanovskiy def. Thole/Wickler, 2-0 (21-16, 21-16) (45)
Bronze - Mol/Sorum def. Crabb/Gibb, 2-0 (21-16, 21-15) (35)
The 2019 FIVB World Tour Finals podiums with Brazilians, Germans, Norwegians and Russians
In the women’s competition, Germany’s Margareta Kozuch and Laura Ludwig won their first FIVB World Tour gold medal together by defeating Agatha Bednarczuk/Eduarda “Duda” Lisboa of Brazil in the finals. It was the first career FIVB World Tour title for Kozuch and the 12th for Ludwig.
Italy - Rome, September 4-8, $300,000, FIVB women's event No. 422
1. Margareta Kozuch/Laura Ludwig, Germany, $40,000
2. Agatha Bednarczuk/Eduarda "Duda" Lisboa, Brazil, $32,000
3. Rebecca Cavalcanti/Ana Patricia Silva, Brazil, $20,000
4. Joana Heidrich/Anouk Verge-Depre, Switzerland, $16,000
Gold - Kozuch/Ludwig def. Agatha/Duda, 2-0 (21-19, 21-17) (43 minutes)
Bronze - Rebecca/Ana Patricia def. Heidrich/Verge-Depre, 2-1 (19-21, 21-18, 16-14) (59)
The 2019-2020 season is scheduled to begin in three weeks with a men’s-only one-star event in Bandar Torkaman, Iran from October 1-4. While the complete 2019-2020 schedule has not been released, there are three other confirmed double-gender events to look ahead to in China (Qinzhou, October 30-November 3), Qatar (Doha, November 12-15) and Mexico (Chetumal, November 13-17).