The Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour arrives at one of its most iconic and picturesque venues this week as the Swiss village of Gstaad hosts the fifth Elite event of the 2025 season, running from Wednesday to Sunday. A beloved stop for both athletes and fans since 2000, the Gstaad tournament is consistently a highlight of the beach volleyball calendar.
Women`s Competition: Reigning Champions Return
Kristen Nuss and Taryn Brasher, the American pair who won the women`s title in 2024, are back to defend their championship in the Swiss Alps. The Americans have shown strong form throughout the current season, securing podium finishes in three out of four events they`ve competed in: gold in Brasília, silver in Saquarema, and bronze in Quintana Roo. However, they head to Gstaad after their least successful outing in 2025, finishing 13th in Ostrava.
Fellow Americans Terese Cannon and Megan Kraft, who earned silver in Gstaad in 2024, also return this year. They started the season strongly with a second-place finish at the Elite event in Quintana Roo and have consistently placed fifth in subsequent tournaments in Saquarema, Brasília, and Ostrava, suggesting they are close to another medal.
Latvians Tina Graudina and Anastasija Samoilova, bronze medalists in Gstaad last year, recently took silver at the Ostrava Elite event. In their other 2025 tournaments, they have achieved two fifth-place finishes and one ninth-place.
While reigning Olympic champions Eduarda ‘Duda’ Lisboa and Ana Patrícia Ramos of Brazil, who won in Gstaad in 2022 and 2023, will miss this year`s event due to injury, many other top women`s teams have traveled to the mountains. These include Brazilian pairs Victoria Lopes/Thamela Coradello and Carol Salgado/Rebecca Cavalcanti, Germany’s Svenja Müller/Cinja Tillmann, Switzerland’s Anouk Vergé-Dépré/Zoé Vergé-Dépré, and Canada’s Brandie Wilkerson/Melissa Humana-Paredes.
Men`s Competition: Seeking Another Cowbell
On the men`s side, the 2024 winners, David Åhman and Joanatan Hellvig of Sweden, were forced to withdraw after one sustained an injury at the Warmia Mazury Challenge last week. However, other past Gstaad champions are present and aiming to reach the top of the podium once more.
Among them are FIVB World Ranking leaders and Tokyo Olympic champions Anders Mol and Christian Sørum of Norway. They were Gstaad champions in 2018 and 2019 and have been trying to reclaim the coveted gold cowbells since, finishing second in 2023 and third in 2024.
Americans Andy Benesh and Miles Partain, who won in the Swiss Alps in 2023, are also back to replicate their success. They have competed in only two Beach Pro Tour events this season, finishing ninth in Brasília and fifth in Ostrava.
Dutch Olympians Stefan Boermans and Yorick De Groot, Gstaad winners in 2021, also participated in a training camp alongside the Norwegian and American teams ahead of the event. The Dutch duo won gold in Brasília this season and took third in Saquarema (their first event of the year), but had an early exit with a 13th-place finish in Ostrava.
The list of former Gstaad champions returning also includes Chilean cousins Marco and Esteban Grimalt, who claimed the cowbells in 2022. Unlike the other past winners, the South Americans will start their campaign in the qualification rounds on Wednesday.
Another notable entry in the men`s qualifier is the temporary return of Brazilian Andre Loyola. The 2017 world champion announced he would take the season off but couldn`t pass up the chance to play in Gstaad with his longtime partner George, with whom he won silver in 2024 and bronze in 2023 at this venue.
Other top men’s teams competing this week include Qatari Olympic medalists Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan, Czech world champions Ondřej Perušič and David Schweiner, and promising Cuban pair Jorge Alayo and Noslen Diaz.
The action in Gstaad begins on Wednesday with the qualification rounds for both genders and the start of the men’s main draw. Pool play continues on Thursday and concludes Friday morning for the women. Friday will also feature the men’s and women’s Round of 18 matches and the men’s Round of 12.
The elimination rounds intensify on Saturday, with the women playing their Round of 12 and quarterfinals, and the men competing in the quarterfinals and semifinals. Sunday’s schedule will feature the women’s semifinals and medal matches, followed by the men’s medal matches.
Jasper Thornfield 
Oliver Wrenwick