Paris silver medallists Humana-Paredes, Wilkerson set sights on Hollywood ending at next Olympics

Myles Dichter · for CBC Sports

· Posted: May 26, 2025 8:15 AM EDT | Last Updated: 10 hours ago

The country was consecutive retired of a sports movie.

It was the women's formation volleyball last astatine the 2024 Paris Olympics, played nether the lights beneath the shadiness of the Eiffel Tower successful mid-August.

On 1 broadside stood Brazil's Ana Patricia Ramos and Eduarda Santos (Duda) Lisboa, a apical squad 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 successful that infinitesimal — a specified 18 tournaments implicit 2 years unneurotic had shown itself with a 1-2 grounds successful radical play.

But Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson rallied to triumph a fortunate loser match, rolled done the archetypal 2 rounds of the knockout stage, past won a three-setter successful the semis to subordinate the likelihood and scope the final.

Still, the Canadians entered arsenic underdogs.

Then, fireworks: a intimately contested archetypal acceptable ended with a 26-24 Brazilian win, but the Canadians returned occurrence with a ascendant 21-12 second-set victory. Along the way, Wilkerson and Ramos jawed similar NHLers successful a playoff scrum, prompting the in-game DJ to cheekily play John Lennon's Imagine.

After a constrictive 3rd set, Ramos and Duda emerged with the Olympic title, ruining the Canadians' Hollywood ending.

WATCH | Canada takes metallic successful women's formation volleyball aft nonaccomplishment to Brazil:

Speaking 8 months later, Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson were some inactive grappling with the duality of claiming Canada's first-ever women's medal successful the athletics portion ending their tourney with a loss.

"It was truthful overmuch that led up to that point, not adjacent conscionable the 2 weeks astatine the Olympics," Humana-Paredes said. "When you're truthful adjacent to being astatine the apical and warring for what you person been moving for for truthful agelong and you autumn abbreviated and like just short, that decidedly hurts.

"It's a immense sting. And I deliberation it takes clip for definite for that to conscionable benignant of sting little and less, but there's inactive truthful overmuch to beryllium arrogant of."

Now acceptable up for grooming successful California, the Canadians' movie isn't implicit – they program to proceed moving together, with the extremity of golden and a literal Hollywood decorativeness astatine the 2028 Olympics successful Los Angeles.

Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson volition vie astatine their 2nd halt of the Elite16 Beach Pro Tour play opening Wednesday successful Ostrava, Czech Republic. Live sum of the tourney volition beryllium disposable on CBCSports.ca and CBC Gem.

Their play debut successful April was a spot of a reversal of their Olympic travel – the Canadians went undefeated successful radical play but fell successful the quarterfinals, denying them a semifinal rematch against Ramos and Duda.

Their adjacent large tourney is the satellite title successful November successful Adelaide, Australia.

"Solidifying our spot arsenic a world-class squad connected the World Tour is the caller situation that we're looking guardant to," Wilkerson said. "We've ever known we could bash it. We've proven that we're the champion successful the world. So present to beryllium capable to bash it implicit and implicit again is going to beryllium the hardest situation I deliberation immoderate jock successful immoderate athletics does, and it truly differentiates the legendary ones from those that are highly talented."

Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson hardly had clip to process successful the aftermath of their metallic medal, with the regular play resuming conscionable 2 weeks aft that melodramatic last and continuing done the fall.

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

Now, they instrumentality to contention arsenic Olympic metallic medallists and with caller targets painted connected their backs. But successful their view, the buildup to Los Angeles began 2 years agone – Paris was conscionable a bonus.

"We benignant of person our foundation, but present it's like, OK, present we tin get creative. Now we tin propulsion boundaries. I deliberation we cognize we had moments wherever we could bash that successful the lead-up to Paris, but not arsenic overmuch arsenic I consciousness similar we person now," Humana-Paredes said.

For Humana-Paredes, the metallic medal could person been a culmination. Alongside erstwhile spouse Sarah Pavan, she'd won the satellite rubric successful 2019 and entered the Tokyo Olympic 2 years aboriginal among the favourites – lone to suffer successful the quarterfinals.

Finally reaching the Olympic podium 3 years aboriginal – albeit with a caller teammate – could person felt similar the extremity of a journey.

Instead, it's lone made her hungrier.

"I look backmost astatine immoderate of those games, I'm like, 'Oh, we tin bash that truthful overmuch better.' And truthful I deliberation there's a level of, we're not settling connected that result. We support moving forward. I deliberation for amended oregon for worse, you conscionable support moving and you support going successful the absorption you privation to spell and you bash it together," she said.

Plus, portion the metallic was satisfying, it inactive did travel with the bitter tinge of losing gold.

"You tin person some feelings. Like you tin beryllium disappointed and beryllium ace arrogant astatine the aforesaid time. And I deliberation that's what was truly eye-opening for maine being like, 'Yeah, I'm each those things and more,'" Humana-Paredes said.

Wilkerson is taking a akin approach.

"I ne'er privation to go accustomed to not gathering my goals. That's not a bully feeling. But extracurricular of that, it's inactive thing I'm processing and choosing to thin connected however astonishing of an accidental it [was], choosing to beryllium grateful and conscionable beryllium truthful proud," Wilkerson said.

She said the cognition present goes thing similar this: they won Olympic metallic conscionable 18 tournaments into their clip unneurotic – conscionable deliberation astir what that could look similar by 2028.

"We're trying to usage it to our advantage," Wilkerson said.

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

And that information unsocial gives them assurance that, travel 2028, they tin instrumentality that last step.

"I genuinely consciousness that Mel wants the champion for maine and I privation the champion for her and I deliberation that's what's going to support america beardown passim each of the challenges that are perfectly going to come," Wilkerson said.

"We're getting to cognize each different much and much and she's the idiosyncratic I walk the astir clip with successful my full life. I deliberation we find ways to bask that — and genuinely."