Humana-Paredes, Wilkerson officially named to Canada's Olympic beach volleyball team

After competing with different partners at the Tokyo Games, Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson are joining forces this summer at the Paris Olympics.

Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson, both from Toronto, were part of Canada's Olympic beach volleyball team announced Friday by Volleyball Canada and the Canadian Olympic Committee.

Heather Bansley of Waterdown, Ont., Toronto's Sophie Bukovec, Samuel Schachter of Richmond Hill, Ont., and Toronto's Daniel Dearing were also named to the squad.

Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson are currently ranked fourth in the world and recently won silver at the Ostrava Elite 16 event in Czechia

"We have been preparing and looking forward to this moment since we embarked on this journey together less than two years ago," Humana- Paredes said in a news release. "When we got together, our goals were clear: making history in Paris."

Wilkerson and Humana-Paredes had to work quickly to gear up for a run to Paris after teaming up two months before the qualification window opened.

"As a new team we didn't have much time before needing to execute in order to get Olympic points," Humana-Paredes said. "We knew what the team was capable of and quickly we made our presence known, meeting our standards every chance we got."

Bansley is back in action after briefly retiring after the Tokyo Olympics, where she and Wilkerson advanced to the quarterfinals following an upset of third-ranked Kelly Claes and Sarah Sponcil of the United States. She will team up with Bukovec in Paris.

Humana-Parades and Sarah Pavan also advanced to the quarterfinals in Tokyo before being upset by Australians Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho del Solar.

Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson earned an Olympic spot based on their world