MONTREAL — Brandie Wilkerson and Melissa Humana-Paredes know they’re in for a warm welcome this week in Montreal — especially as Olympic medallists.
Set to compete on home soil for the first time since winning silver at last summer’s Paris Games, Canada’s beach volleyball stars can already sense the excitement, whether it’s through social media or while walking down the street.
“We’ve been feeling an immense amount of support,” Wilkerson said Wednesday. “Random people are stopping us, telling us about their experience watching or their love for the game, and just sending a lot of love.
“We’re anticipating a really great Canadian crowd.”
Two years ago, Wilkerson and Humana-Paredes lit up Montreal’s Elite16 stop on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour, capturing the first gold medal of their months-old partnership and setting the stage for a historic 2024 season.
Now they’re back at Parc Jean-Drapeau, set to begin pool play Thursday, a little more than one full year removed from their memorable underdog run in Paris.
Under the bright lights at Eiffel Tower Stadium, the Toronto duo became the first Canadian women to reach the Olympic podium in beach volleyball.
After a disappointing 1-2 start, they won their lucky-loser match and advanced through the knockout rounds in a stunning turnaround to reach the final, falling in three sets to Brazil’s Ana Patricia Ramos and Eduarda Santos (Duda) Lisboa — also competing in Montreal this week — on Aug. 9, 2024.
Canada’s only other medal in the sport was a men’s bronze at the 1996 Games in Atlanta.
Since their historic finish in Paris, Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson have felt the expectations on them increase, but nothing compares to the standards they set for themselves.
“There is always a target on your back when you get a label like Olympic medallist, and it changes how people can perceive you,” Humana-Paredes said. “What doesn’t change is how we continue to show up and how we continue to want to improve.
“We know what we’re capable of and we know what we want to achieve … we’re also constantly never done trying to get better, no matter what results we achieve.”
The former York University volleyball teammates feel far from done despite their climb onto the Olympic podium.
They have their sights set on gold at the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles. That’s despite the fact they’ll both be in their mid-’30s — Humana-Paredes is 32, Wilkerson is 33 — and considered calling it quits years ago.
“I wasn’t sure if I would even go to Paris after Tokyo,” Humana-Paredes said. “However, I think after Paris, no matter how difficult it was, for me there was an immediate confirmation that I would absolutely want to do another Olympic run to L.A., and without a doubt with Brandie.
“I was like, ‘I hope she’s on the same page!’”
Wilkerson was, believing they’d only begun scratching the surface two years into the partnership.
“If this is what we could accomplish in two, give us another four,” she said. “I’m very excited about what’s coming up next.”
On the sand, their skill sets are a great fit. The athletic, five-foot-11 Wilkerson is a premier blocker in beach volleyball, while the five-foot-nine Humana-Paredes — a former FIVB defender of the year — covers the backcourt.
They’ve competed in four events this season, finishing in the top five three times under new head coach Ricardo de Freitas, who replaced Marcio Sicoli.
In the lead-up to Paris, the relatively new partners focused on setting a foundation with consistent passing, setting and serving, without much time to evolve beyond that.
With three years until the next Olympics, Humana-Paredes believes the areas they can grow are endless. They’re learning new offensive sets, working on situational play calls and exploring different ways to utilize their serves as a weapon.
“We now have time to experiment with and evolve and make more consistent,” Humana-Paredes said. “We’ve both been to two Olympics, so to have that feeling at this point in our careers, like, ‘Oh, we’re just tapping the surface and we can really build on our foundations,’ feels really exciting.”
A podium finish this season still escapes them, but perhaps they’ll have some more magic in store in Montreal.
“We had an amazing time the first go around. We were so impressed with the energy from the fans,” Wilkerson said. “To come back now, post-Olympics and just feeling even more ready, I think even more volleyball fans than before, I’m very much looking forward to seeing how it all comes together.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 13, 2025.
Daniel Rainbird, The Canadian Press
(via @arenasporttv/TT)
