Toronto beach volleyball duo competing at Elite16 Beach Pro Tour event this week

Beach volleyball athletes Melissa Humana-Paredes, left, and Brandie Wilkerson, right, teamed up for a silver medal at the Paris Olympic Games, but are looking to top the Olympic podium in Los Angeles. (Lars Baron/Getty Images)

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The scene was straight out of a sports movie.

It was the women’s beach volleyball final at the 2024 Paris Olympics, played under the lights beneath the shadow of the Eiffel Tower in mid-August.

On one side stood Brazil’s Ana Patricia Ramos and Eduarda Santos (Duda) Lisboa, a top team from a powerhouse country.

Across from them lingered Canada’s Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson.

The Toronto-born duo was not expected to find itself in that moment — a mere 18 tournaments over two years together had shown itself with a 1-2 record in group play.

But Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson rallied to win a lucky loser match, rolled through the first two rounds of the knockout stage, then won a three-setter in the semis to buck the odds and reach the final.

Still, the Canadians entered as underdogs.

Then, fireworks: a closely contested first set ended with a 26-24 Brazilian win, but the Canadians returned fire with a dominant 21-12 second-set victory.

Along the way, Wilkerson and Ramos jawed like NHLers in a playoff scrum, prompting the in-game DJ to cheekily play John Lennon’s Imagine.

After a narrow third set, Ramos and Duda emerged with the Olympic title, ruining the Canadians’ Hollywood ending.

WATCH | Canada takes silver in women’s beach volleyball after loss to Brazil:

Canada takes silver in women’s beach volleyball after loss to Brazil

10 months ago

Duration

2:03

Canadians Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson earned silver medals in the women’s beach volleyball final at the Paris Olympics after falling to No. 1-ranked Ana Patricia and Duda of Brazil in three sets.

Speaking eight months later, Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson were both still grappling with the duality of claiming Canada’s first-ever women’s medal in the sport while ending their tournament with a loss.

“It was so much that led up to that point, not even just the two weeks at the Olympics,” Humana-Paredes said.

“When you’re so close to being at the top and fighting for what you have been working for for so long and you fall short and like just short, that definitely hurts.

“It’s a huge sting. And I think it takes time for sure for that to just kind of sting less and less, but there’s still so much to be proud of.”

Now set up for training in California, the Canadians’ movie isn’t over – they plan to continue working together, with the goal of gold and a literal Hollywood finish at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson will compete at their second stop of the Elite16 Beach Pro Tour season beginning Wednesday in Ostrava, Czech Republic.

Live coverage of the tournament will be available on CBCSports.ca and CBC Gem.

Their season debut in April was a bit of a reversal of their Olympic journey – the Canadians went undefeated in group play but fell in the quarterfinals, denying them a semifinal rematch against Ramos and Duda.

Their next major tournament is the world championship in November in Adelaide, Australia.

“Solidifying our spot as a world-class team on the World Tour is the new challenge that we’re looking forward to,” Wilkerson said. “We’ve always known we could do it.

We’ve proven that we’re the best in the world. So now to be able to do it over and over again is going to be the hardest challenge I think any athlete in any sport does, and it really differentiates the legendary ones from those that are extremely talented.”

Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson barely had time to process in the aftermath of their silver medal, with the regular season resuming just two weeks after that dramatic final and continuing through the fall.

Humana-Paredes said their first downtime came around Christmas, but the duo took a longer-than-usual off-season to regroup.

Now, they return to competition as Olympic silver medallists and with new targets painted on their backs.

But in their view, the buildup to Los Angeles began two years ago – Paris was just a bonus.

“We kind of have our foundation, but now it’s like, OK, now we can get creative. Now we can push boundaries.

I think we know we had moments where we could do that in the lead-up to Paris, but not as much as I feel like we have now,” Humana-Paredes said.

For Humana-Paredes, the silver medal could have been a culmination.

Alongside former partner Sarah Pavan, she’d won the world title in 2019 and entered the Tokyo Olympic two years later among the favourites – only to lose in the quarterfinals.

Finally reaching the Olympic podium three years later – albeit with a new teammate – could have felt like the end of a journey.

Instead, it’s only made her hungrier.

“I look back at some of those games, I’m like, ‘Oh, we can do that so much better.’

And so I think there’s a level of, we’re not settling on that result. We keep moving forward.

I think for better or for worse, you just keep moving and you keep going in the direction you want to go and you do it together,” she said.

Plus, while the silver was satisfying, it still did come with the bitter tinge of losing gold.

“You can have both feelings. Like you can be disappointed and be super proud at the same time.

And I think that’s what was really eye-opening for me being like, ‘Yeah, I’m all those things and more,'” Humana-Paredes said.

Wilkerson is taking a similar approach.

“I never want to become accustomed to not meeting my goals. That’s not a good feeling.

But outside of that, it’s still something I’m processing and choosing to lean on how amazing of an opportunity it [was], choosing to be grateful and just be so proud,” Wilkerson said.

She said the attitude now goes something like this: they won Olympic silver just 18 tournaments into their time together – just think about what that could look like by 2028.

“We’re trying to use it to our advantage,” Wilkerson said.

More than anything, though, the vibes are immaculate between Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson.

And that fact alone gives them confidence that, come 2028, they can take that final step.

“I genuinely feel that Mel wants the best for me and I want the best for her and I think that’s what’s going to keep us strong throughout all of the challenges that are absolutely going to come,” Wilkerson said.

“We’re getting to know each other more and more and she’s the person I spend the most time with in my entire life. I think we find ways to enjoy that — and genuinely.”