Team Canada has won its first medal of the year at an Elite16 Beach Volleyball Pro Tour event. Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson of Toronto, Ontario won the bronze medal in Ostrava, Czechia.
In Ostrava this past weekend, Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson won Pool D with a perfect record of three wins and zero losses. After beating Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth of the United States in the quarterfinals, they lost to another American team in Sarah Sponcil and Terese Cannon, 21-19, 13-21, 15-12 in the semifinals.
In the bronze medal game on Sunday, Wilkerson and Humana-Paredes beat the Switzerland duo of Nina Brunner and Tanja Huberli of Switzerland 21-16, 21-14. Ana Patricia and Duda of Brazil won gold, while Sponcil and Cannon won silver.
Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson are in their first year together. Humana-Paredes previously won a gold medal with Sarah Pavan of Kitchener, Ontario at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia, the 2019 World Beach Volleyball Championships in Hamburg, at the 2019 Vienna Major, and the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England. Wilkerson previously won three World Tour events with Heather Bansley of London, Ontario in 2018 (in Warsaw, Poland, Las Vegas, Nevada and Cheturnal, Mexico) before winning a silver medal with Sophie Bukovec of Etobicoke, Ontario at the 2022 World Beach Volleyball Championships in Rome.
