The Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour gets this week to one of its most iconic and unique locations as the Swiss village of Gstaad is set to welcome the fifth Elite event in the 2025 season from Wednesday to Sunday.

A staple in international beach volleyball since 2000, the Swiss city is one of the most well-liked venues for athletes and fans and is always among the highlights of the season.

• Watch Beach Pro Tour Gstaad Elite live on VBTV

Last year’s women’s winners, Kristen Nuss and Taryn Brasher will return to defend the title they won at the Swiss Alps in 2024. The Americans have been in great form this season, having made it to the podium in three of the four events they played, taking gold in Brasília, silver in Saquarema and bronze in Quintana Roo, but get to Gstaad coming from their worst result in 2025, a 13^th-place finish in Ostrava.

Another American duo, the one of Terese Cannon and Megan Kraft, will also be back in Gstaad after claiming silver in 2024. The two finished second in the first Elite event of the season, in Quintana Roo, and seem on the verge of claiming another medal after ranking fifth in Saquarema, Brasília and Ostrava.

Beach Pro Tour Gstaad Elite – Women’s Entry List

The third team that made it to the podium in the Swiss Alps last year, Latvians Tina Graudina and Anastasija Samoilova took silver in the most recent Elite event, held in Ostrava, and have two fifths and one ninth in the other tournaments they played in 2025.

Reigning Olympic champions Eduarda ‘Duda’ Lisboa and Ana Patrícia Ramos of Brazil, who triumphed in Gstaad in both 2022 and 2023, will miss this year’s event due to an injury, but many other elite teams made the trip up the mountains, such as their compatriots 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.

Mol and Sørum go for their third cowbell

On the men’s side, 2024 winners David Åhman and Joanatan Hellvig of Sweden had to withdraw after they picked up an injury during the Warmia Mazury Challenge last week, but other past Gstaad champions will be in town, determined to return to the top of the podium.

Among them are FIVB World Ranking leaders and Tokyo Olympic champions Anders Mol and Christian Sørum of Norway, who triumphed in Gstaad in 2018 and 2019 and have been trying to win the gold cowbells since then, having finished second in 2023 and third in 2024.

Americans Andy Benesh and Miles Partain, who made it to the top of the podium in the Swiss Alps in the 2023 season, will also try to run it back this week. The two have played in just a pair of Beach Pro Tour events so far in 2025, ranking ninth in Brasília and fifth in Ostrava.

Beach Pro Tour Gstaad Elite – Men’s Entry List

Norwegians and Americans were part of a training camp ahead of the Gstaad event that also featured Dutch Olympians Stefan Boermans and Yorick De Groot, who triumphed in Switzerland back in 2021. The Europeans already took gold this season, winning in Brasília, but head to Gstaad after leaving the Ostrava Elite way too early and ranking 13^th – they were third in Saquarema, their first event in the season.

The list of past Gstaad winners coming back for more also includes Chilean cousins Marco and Esteban Grimalt, who claimed the coveted cowbells in 2022. Unlike the other past champions, the South Americans will start the event in the qualifier, on Wednesday.

Another attraction of the men’s qualifier in Switzerland will be the temporary return of Brazilian Andre Loyola to action. A 2017 world champion, he announced at the start of the year that he would take the season off to recharge, but he couldn’t pass on the opportunity of playing in Gstaad with longtime partner George – the two won silver last year and bronze in 2023 in the Swiss city.

Other top men’s duos entered in this week’s event include Qatari Olympic medalists Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan, Czech world champions Ondřej Perušič and David Schweiner and Cuban sensations Jorge Alayo and Noslen Diaz.

The first matches in Gstaad will take place on Wednesday, when the qualifier will be held in both genders and the men’s main draw will begin. Pool play will continue throughout Thursday and will extend until Friday morning for the women. The men’s and women’s Round of 18 and the men’s Round of 12 matches will be held on the same day.

Beach Pro Tour Gstaad Elite – Match Schedule

The elimination rounds continue at full pace on Saturday, with the women playing the Round of 12 and the quarterfinals and the men playing the quarterfinals and semifinals. Sunday’s schedule in Gstaad will be completed with the women’s semifinals and medal matches and the men’s medal matches.

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