Todd and Phil claim bronze medal in Klagenfurt

Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser reached the podium for the fifth straight FIVB World Tour tournament on Sunday, earning the bronze medal at a Grand Slam event in Klagenfurt, Austria.

The local beach volleyball professionals defeated Brazil’s Joao Maciel and Bruno Schmidt, 21-14, 21-12 in the third-place match.

The bronze is their eighth medal in 11 matches on the World Tour this season. A gold in Klagenfurt would have been their fifth title of the season, matching the number of wins by Emanuel Rego and Alison Cerutti.

In the previous four events, Rogers-Dalhausser won back-to-back gold medals in Canada and Poland, took bronze in Russia and silver in Switzerland.

The Austria gold was won by Brazilians Ricardo Santos and Pedro Cunha. They defeated Germany’s Julius Brink and Jonas Reckermann, 21-19, 18-21, 15-9.

Ricardo-Pedro upset top-seeded compatriots Emanuel and Alison in the Round of 16 on  Saturday. In the semifinals, they outlasted Rogers-Dalhausser 21-19, 33-31.

The World Tour continues in two weeks in Aland, Finland.