Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson want to take one step up the podium at the next Olympics.
Speaking on The Fan Pregame on Sportsnet 590 The Fan on Wednesday, the Canadian beach volleyball stars confirmed they’ll try to go from silver to gold at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
“We’ll be definitely making a push to L.A. 2028,” Humana-Paredes said.
The Toronto team won four elimination matches in a row after a 1-2 start at Paris 2024 to advance to the gold-medal game. In the final, the Canadians fought back from a first-set loss before falling 2-1 to the world’s No. 1 team from Brazil.
It also marked the best-ever finish for a Canadian volleyball team. Canada had won just one volleyball medal in Olympic history before — bronze by John Child and Mark Heese in men’s beach in 1996. Humana-Paredes’ dad, Hernan, coached that team.
The 31-year-old Humana-Paredes and 32-year-old Wilkerson, former indoor volleyball teammates at York University, teamed up in 2022 after both were eliminated in the 2021 Olympic quarterfinals with different teammates.
Their chemistry was evident as they became the first team in Olympic history to earn a medal after being relegated to a lucky-loser match (teams to advance from pool play, but not earning a direct entry into the round of 16 as top-two finishers in their group).
The season is not over, however. The Chicago Open looms next weekend.
“We actually don’t have that much time off. We’re getting back into training next week and have a tournament next weekend,” Humana-Paredes said. “Volleyball doesn’t end when the Olympics are over. We still have our regular season. If you love beach volleyball as much as you did during the Olympics, stay tuned because there is lots of volleyball coming up.”
The Beach Pro Tour Finals are in December in Qatar.