Canada's best shot at a beach volleyball gold medal in the Paris 2024 Olympics is through a new team with a lot of history. Longtime friends Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson officially joined forces in October and head into this week's Montreal Elite16 tournament as the top-ranked Canadian team.
Live coverage of the event begins Thursday at 9 a.m. ET on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app and CBC Gem. The two Olympians from Toronto open pool play Thursday night against sixth-ranked Raisa Schoon and Katja Stam of the Netherlands at Parc Jean-Drapeau.
Their relationship dates back to their days competing for York University's volleyball team a decade ago, but Humana-Paredes feels the thought of partnering up really came to fruition when both served as alternates for Canada at the 2016 Rio Games. "That's kind of what sparked [the idea that] we potentially would play together one day and maybe go to the Olympics one day," said the 30-year-old Humana-Paredes. "I always had this feeling that I would play with Brandie at some point before my career ended." WATCH | Humana-Paredes, Wilkerson chat with CBC Sports' Scott Russell: After a few years as opponents, the timing finally lined up.
Humana-Paredes and longtime partner Sarah Pavan — who won world championship gold in 2019 — split in August after five years together.