Klagenfurt, Austria, July 31, 2010 - Juliana Felisberta Silva and Larissa Franca of Brazil successfully defended their A1 Beach Volleyball Grand Slam gold medal here Saturday by winning a pair matches, including the 44th All-Brazilian gold medal match in the 19-year history of the women’s SWATCH FIVB World Tour.

The top-seeded Juliana and Larissa posted a 21-13 and 21-19 win in 39 minutes over 24th-seeded compatriots Vivian Cunha and Taiana Lima to claim their 34th SWATCH FIVB World Tour gold medal at the US$600,000 A1 Beach Volleyball Grand Slam presented by Volksbank. The title match was Juliana and Larissa’s 51st in 80 FIVB starts together since 2004.

Juliana and Larissa shared the $43,500 first-place prize as the Brazilians placed on a Metnitzstrand center court podium for the fourth-time since their first Lake Wörthersee event 2004. In their first five Klagenfurt appearances, Juliana and Larissa placed second in 2006 and 2007 with three fifths in 2004, 2005 and 2008.

Saturday’s wins extended Juliana and Larissa’s current victory string to 22-straight as the Brazilians have won their last three SWATCH FIVB World Tour appearances, including Grand Slam titles in Norway and Switzerland. The pair’s last setback was a semi-final decision in the Russian Grand Slam last month where Juliana and Larissa were defeated by Chen Xue and Zhang Xi of China in the semi-finals.

With her 19-21, 33-31 and 15-11 semi-final win in 80 minutes over fifth-seeded Sara Goller and Laura Ludwig, Larissa became only the fifth player in the 24-year history of the FIVB Beach Volleyball play to win over $1-million in a career. Larissa is currently at $1,011,185 with Juliana approaching the $1-million mark with $999,175.

Vivian and Lima shared $29,500 for placing second. The Brazilians entered the final with 10-straight A1 Beach Volleyball Grand Slam wins, including a 26-24 and 21-17 win in 50 minutes over ninth-seeded Barbara Hansel and Sara Montagnolli of Austria.

In the bronze medal match, Goller and Ludwig rebounded from the seventh defeat in eight matches with Juliana and Larissa to post a 21-15 and 23-21 win in 47 minutes over Hansel and Montagnolli. The Germans shared $23,000 for third-place while the Austrians split $18,400 for their second-straight fourth-place finish in Klagenfurt.

The season’s final Grand Slam is the next event on the 2010 SWATCH FIVB World Tour calendar starting Monday in Stare Jablonki, Poland. Open events will conclude the European portion of the international season with stops in Norway (Kristiansand, August 9-15), Finland (Aland, August 16-22) and The Netherlands (The Hague, August 23-29).