Austrian sisters Doris (left) and Stefanie Schwaiger are feeling the benefits of a change of scene in their pre-season preparations
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Los Angeles, USA, April 6, 2011 – Austrian sisters Doris and Stefanie Schwaiger confirmed their target of a top-five finish at the 2011 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships in Rome in June as they continue their preparations for the Brasilia Open, set to begin in under two weeks' time.
The event in Brasilia from April 17-22 is the first on the 2011 FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch World Tour, and the siblings have been training in Los Angeles with coach Martin Olejnak as they look to step up another level this season.
"At the World Championships in Rome, it will be like [the last World Championships] 2009 in Stavanger, a top-five place," Doris, who reached the quarterfinals alongside Stefanie last time out, told the Austrian newspaper Kurier. "And we will also be looking to get to a Grand Slam semifinal which would also nice, probably in Klagenfurt."
The pair decided to train in Los Angeles this year instead of their usual base in Rio de Janeiro, and the decision appears to have paid off according to Olejnak, whose charges have had the chance to take on double Olympic champions Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh. "We were a bit tired of Rio," he said. "LA was a good choice. There are many of the US team here and we play more sessions than in Brazil."
Stefanie agreed that the change had been a breath of fresh air, and added that the sisters had more weapons in their arsenal this year. "We now play more fast balls in the middle and the outside," she said.
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