Humana-Paredes, Wilkerson lead Canada at Montreal beach volleyball tournament

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.

Wilkerson and Heather Bansley, a duo that once held the No. 1 ranking on the FIVB tour, broke up in February last year. Wilkerson then teamed with Sophie Bukovec in a partnership that lasted until the end of last season.

So far, so good.

Despite the challenges of building chemistry with a new partner, Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson, ranked 26th in the world, have placed in the top five in all five of