U.S. beach volleyball players fly to Australia, learn event is postponed

U.S. beach volleyball players Kelly Claes and Sarah Sponcil learned about five hours before their scheduled flight to Australia that this week’s FIVB World Tour event in Gold Coast, carrying significant Olympic qualifying points, was postponed due to coronavirus concerns. They didn’t board.

Olympians Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena were already in Australia.

“The Coronavirus has officially affected the beach volleyball world,” was posted on the 2008 Olympic gold medalist Dalhausser’s Instagram. “Unfortunately the Australian tourney was suppose to start in a few days and most teams are already here.”

Efforts to reach Dalhausser have been unsuccessful, but he posted on Instagram over the weekend that he was touring Sydney.

Claes and Sponcil and Dalhausser and Lucena share this: They are the third-ranked U.S. pairs in women’s and men’s Olympic qualifying. The top two U.S. pairs per gender come a June 15 cutoff qualify for the Tokyo Games, unless the qualification procedures are changed given the coronavirus’ impact. Points are crucial for those teams just off the bubble.

The Gold Coast event was mid-level, given a three-star rating on a scale of one to five. The top two U.S. pairs per gender either didn’t enter the event or withdrew before scheduled flights.

Kerri Walsh Jennings, the three-time Olympic champion who is ranked second in Olympic qualifying with Brooke Sweat, posted that they and other U.S. teams decided collectively on Friday to withdrew from the Australia event.

“People had departing flights within hours of our decision,” was posted on Walsh Jennings’ Instagram. “It was extremely hard for all of us because we were each weighing our Olympic dreams & professional livelihood against a global pandemic and National State of Emergency in our home country. No athlete should ever be in that situation.”

Claes and Sponcil and Dalhausser and Lucena, the latter having just played a four-star event in Doha, were still on the entry list on Saturday afternoon. The FIVB said preventative measures had been planned to protect those at the event, but it was ultimately postponed.

“The FIVB and the organizers recognize that there are international travel limitations and other restrictions in different parts of the world that impact the ability of some of the participants to take part in the event,” according to a press release. “The health of athletes, officials and fans is the FIVB’s top priority, and the mutual decision to postpone the event was made in the best interests of all parties.”

Previously, four-star events scheduled this spring in China (two of them) and Mexico had been postponed or canceled. That made the points offered in Australia more valuable for Olympic qualifying, which takes each pair’s top 12 finishes from Sept. 1, 2018 to June 14, 2020 with greater weight given to higher-starred events.

That timeline and process could change.

“The FIVB, working in close collaboration with the IOC, is evaluating how to adapt the Olympic qualification for beach volleyball in order to preserve the technical balance and protect the athletes in light of the recent event postponements,” according to an FIVB statement Monday.