COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Twelve teams per gender will compete at the 2016 Swatch World tour Finals in Toronto, Canada, beginning Sept. 13. The United States has three teams entered into the field.
The three American teams to qualify for the annual FIVB World Tour Finals earned their berth by ranking in the top eight on the FIVB World Tour Ranking. April Ross and Kerri Walsh Jennings make the lone women’s team entered. They are joined by two men’s teams: Phil Dalhausser/Nick Lucena and John Hyden/Tri Bourne.
In addition to the eight teams per gender, four wild cards were added for a total of 12 teams per gender competing. A country quota of two teams per nation, per gender, was applied.
From Sept. 13-18, four pools of three teams will compete in a round robin format. The winner of each pool advances directly to the quarterfinals. Pool play is Sept. 14-15 and the semifinals and finals for the women is set for Sept. 17, the men’s is on Sunday, Sept. 18.
The event offers the largest prize money of the year, the winning team will bring home a $100,000 US check, second place garners $50,000 and third $20,000. Prize money for each gender is the equal.
Seeding is based on the sum of the athlete entry points. 2016 Olympic bronze medalists Ross/Walsh Jennings will be seeded second, behind Olympic champions Laura Ludwig/Kira Walkenhorst of Germany. On the reserve list are 2016 Olympians Lauren Fendrick/Brooke Sweat.
For the men’s teams, Dalhausser and Lucena are seeded second and joined by Hyden and Bourne, who just missed out on qualifying for the Olympic Games as the third-ranked U.S. men’s team on the June 12, 2016 Olympic ranking deadline.
Ross and Walsh Jennings recently won gold at the Long Beach Grand Slam, the regular season World Tour finale. Dalhausser and Lucena earned silver at last week’s event.
At the 2015 World Tour Finals, Dalhausser and Lucena lost to Alison Cerutti/Bruno Schmidt of Brazil in the gold medal match, after previously topping them in pool play. The two other pairs competing in this year’s edition did not play at last year’s finals. Ross did compete with Fendrick, the duo was eliminated in the quarterfinals by the now disbanded Olympic team of Heather Bansley/Sarah Pavan of Canada.
WOMEN, Country
1. Laura Ludwig/Kira Walkenhorst, GER
2. April Ross/Kerri Walsh Jennings, USA
3. Chantal Laboureur/Julia Sude, GER
4. Talita Antunes/Larissa Franca, BRA
5. Elsa Baquerizo/Liliana Fernandez, ESP
6. Isabelle Forrer/Anouk Verge-Depre, SUI
7. Ana Gallay/Georgina Klug, ARG
8. Marta Menegatti/Laura Giombini, ITA
WC Jamie Broder/Kristina Valjas, CAN
WC TBD, CAN
WC Louise Bawden/Taliqua Clancy, AUS
WC Joana Heidrich/Nadine Zumkehr, SUI
MEN, Country
1. Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Janis Smedins, LAT
2. Phil Dalhausser/Nick Lucena, USA
3. Piotr Kantor/Bartosz Losiak, POL
4. Adrian Carambula/Alex Ranghieri, ITA
5. John Hyden/Tri Bourne, USA
6. Lombardo Ontiveros/Juan Virgen, MEX
7. Evandro Goncalves/Pedro Solberg, BRA
8. Grzegorz Fijalek/Mariusz Prudel, POL
WC Ben Saxton/Chaim Schalk, CAN
WC Josh Binstock/Sam Schachter, CAN
WC Alexander Brouwer/Robert Meeuwsen, NED
WC Alison Cerutti/Bruno Schmidt, BRA
Related Links
FIVB World Tour Finals features Olympic champs