Canada secured its best-ever finish in Olympic volleyball on Thursday when Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson advanced to the gold-medal match in women’s beach volleyball at the Paris Games.
The Canadian duo battled back from a match point in the second set to oust the previously undefeated Swiss team of Nina Brunner and Tanja Huberli 14-21, 22-20, 15-12 in the semifinals.
Canada’s lone volleyball medal in Olympic history was a bronze earned by John Child and Mark Heese in men’s beach in 1996.
The seventh-ranked Canadians will meet World No. 1 Ana Patricia Ramos and Eduarda Santos Lisboa (Duda) of Brazil in the gold-medal match on Friday.
“We’re bringing back a medal for Canada. We know the one we want,” Humana-Paredes told CBC Olympics. “I think we’re just in a really great position because I think there’s more left in the tank for us. I don’t think we’ve seen our best ball yet. I think that’s coming tomorrow.”
The duo from Switzerland had not lost a set in six matches before the Canadians broke through. Canada (5-2) had to survive four elimination matches after going 1-2 in pool play.
Brazil advanced with a 20-22, 21-15, 15-12 semifinal victory over Australia’s Mariafe Artacho Del Solar and Taliqua Clancy, who were silver medalists at the Tokyo Games. The Brazilians are seeking their first gold since 1996.
The Canadian duo won the most recent match against the Brazilian pair earlier this year after losing their first three meetings.
In the men’s semifinals, Germany’s Nils Ehlers and Clemens Wickler defeated the defending gold medalists, Norway’s Anders Berntsen Mol and Christian Sandlie Soerum, 21-13, 17-21, 15-13.
During the final set point in the third round between the German and Norwegian men, the point was awarded to Norway. But Germany successfully challenged the point after requesting a review of a fault by Norway, and won the match.
Sweden’s first-time Olympians Jonatan Hellvig and David Ahman won in straight sets over Qatar’s Ahmed Tijan and Cherif Younousse 21-13, 21-17. World No. 1 Sweden had more blocks (5-2), serves (41-31) and digs (9-4), resulting in more opponent errors (12-6).
Australia and Switzerland will compete in the women’s bronze-medal match on Friday, followed by the women’s final. Norway and Qatar play for the bronze on Saturday, followed by Sweden and Germany for the gold.
–Field Level Media (Reuters contributed to this report)
