As rare opening emerges on schedule, Olympic medallists converge at RBC Canadian Open

Two beach volleyball players and an ice dancer walk onto a golf course.

No, that’s not the setup of a bad joke. It’s also not some sort of mad-libs sentence.

Instead, it is purely happenstance of calendar, with the trio coming together on Thursday at the RBC Canadian Open in Caledon, Ont.

It’s a bit of a weird time for beach volleyball Olympic silver medallists Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson, as well as ice-dance bronze medallist Piper Gilles, whose schedules don’t typically allow for overlap.

The former pair is just in the beginning stages of its season, but the next Summer Olympics are more than two years away and even the upcoming world championships don’t begin until August 2027. They’re also in a month-long break on their World Tour schedule.

Gilles is still just four months removed from her long-awaited Olympic podium appearance alongside partner Paul Poirier. Her medal still sits on a shelf with the ribbon dangling off because she needs to bring it around so often.

“I do love when we are able to mesh,” Humana-Paredes said. “The Winter [and Summer] Olympians having events together and being able to attend them together happen so rarely. We never really get to see each other. So events like this are really special for that as well.”

For Gilles, what comes next is figuring out what comes next.

“I feel like right now I'm in this stage of my life that I'm just saying yes to every opportunity because I just don't know what my future is going to be,” Gilles said. “And that's kind of exciting. I'm not creating any roadblocks for myself, but I'm creating a space to grow and expand what I could be good at.”

The 34-year-old is taking a crash course in other sports for now. She attempted the replica 72-foot putt