For the 11th-straight season, the Swiss village of Gstaad will host a stop on the SWATCH FIVB World Tour as the Alps mountain resort will stage the fourth of six grand slam events on the 2010 international Beach Volleyball calendar. A women’s team from Brazil and a men’s tandem from Germany will return to defend their titles at the US$600,000 event where competition will be held July 5-11. Gstaad initially hosted a women’s-only tournament in 2000 with men’s competition joining the format in 2001. The Swiss village also staged the 2007 SWATCH FIVB World Championships where pairs from the United States claimed both the men’s and women’s titles. In an All-Brazilian women’s finale, Maria Antonelli and Talita Antunes upset Juliana Felisberta Silva and Larissa Franca for the 2009 Gstaad gold medal with a 21-17, 16-21 and 15-12 victory in 58-minutes. It was the fifth-time a Brazilian women’s team captured a Swiss gold medal as two-time American Olympic champions Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh topped the Gstaad podium five times (2002, 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2007). For the second-time in nine men’s Gstaad stops, a European Beach Volleyball pair won the gold medal as Germany’s Julius Brink and Jonas Reckermann defeated two-time Swiss winners Emanuel Rego and Ricardo Santos of Brazil 21-15, 17-21 and 15-11 in 60 minutes. Patrick Heuscher and Stefan Kobel of Switzerland won the 2004 Gstaad finale by defeating Markus Dieckmann and Reckermann for the gold medal. Swiss men’s teams have medaled twice, including a title in 2004 by Patrick Heuscher and Stefan Kobel. Simone Kuhn and Lea Schwer placed fifth at the 2008 stop for the highest finish by a Swiss women’s team in Gstaad. Previously, Kuhn posted the best placements with four ninth-place finishes, including two each with Nicole Schnyder-Benoit (2002 and 2003) and Lea Schwer (2005 and 2006). Pictured to the left below are 2009 Gstaad men winners Julius Brink (left) and Jonas Reckermann of Germany.