Eduarda ‘Duda’ Lisboa and Ana Patrícia Ramos will continue as the defending champions of the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Gstaad Elite16 for another year as the Brazilians won this season’s edition of the event on Sunday.

The two, who had also triumphed in the Swiss Alps last season shortly after their victory at the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championship, topped Americans Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes to retain the title. Another USA team, formed by Taryn Kloth and Kristen Nuss, took bronze.

• Watch the Beach Pro Tour Gstaad Elite16 live on VBTV

The gold medal match of the Gstaad Elit16 marked the third encounter between Brazilians and Americans in a final and for the first time Duda and Ana Patrícia were on the winning side of it, securing a 2-0 (21-18, 21-18) victory – Cheng and Hughes had triumphed at the 2022 Beach Pro Tour Finals and this year’s Tepic Elite16.

With the title of the 2023 Gstaad Elite16, Duda and Ana Patrícia became the fifth women’s team to triumph in the Swiss Alps in consecutive seasons, joining compatriots Adriana Behar/Shelda Bede, Juliana Felisberta/Larissa França and Talita Antunes/Larissa and USA’s Kerri Walsh Jennings/Misty May-Treanor.

The winning streak in Gstaad is even longer for Duda, who won the 2021 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour event held in the Swiss Alps with former partner Ágatha Bednarczuk – she is undefeated in her last 18 matches in the city.

“I love playing here, thank you Gstaad,” Duda commented. “To me, this is a very special tournament. The atmosphere is amazing and this place is so beautiful. I love Gstaad, the fans here are the best. The Americans played very well and every time we play them it’s very hard. We focused on our side out because Sara is a very fast defender. We had a lot of fun.”

Beach Pro Tour Gstaad Elite16 – Results

A second American team made it to the podium in Gstaad as Kloth and Nuss finished in third place after their two-set (21-19, 21-16) victory over Germans Cinja Tillmann and Svenja Müller in the bronze medal match held earlier on Sunday.

The podium finish in Switzerland added to what has been a strong Beach Pro Tour season for the Americans, who took gold at both the La Paz Challenge and the Uberlândia Elite16.

Next week, the Beach Pro Tour will go from the Swiss mountains to the Portuguese coast, with the city of Espinho ready to welcome a Challenge event from July 13-16.

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