Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson capture elusive gold medal at Ostrava beach volleyball tourney

Canadians Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson swept Katja Stam and Raisa Schoon of the Netherlands 2-0 to win a Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour event Sunday.

The Canadians controlled the match, winning 21-16, 21-14. Earlier, Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson defeated Switzerland's Joana Mader and Leona Kernen 2-1 in the semifinals.

"We finally won in Ostrava," said Humana-Paredes said from Czechia. "It's our favourite tournament on tour.

"We had a bronze and a silver coming into this, so we knew we wanted gold to finish the trifecta. Playing in Ostrava is always incredible because the crowd makes every game so special. They truly appreciate beach volleyball and we feel so loved."

On Saturday, the Canadian Olympic silver medallists earned a 2-0 (21-17, 23-21) win over Latvians Tina Graudina and Anastasija Samoilova, the 2025 world champions, in the quarterfinals.

"We were pushed all tournament by incredible athletes the entire week," Wilkerson said. "Our team has been preparing, working hard and it's years in the making.

"It's also a lot of communication, finding things out and being gritty. And we wanted it; we really wanted gold in Ostrava this time."