Canada's Wilkerson, Humana-Paredes a win away from women's beach volleyball medal

PARIS -

Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson were staring down an early exit from the Paris Games. Now they are one win away from delivering Canada's first-ever medal in women's beach volleyball.

With the iconic Eiffel Tower looming over the court that bears its name, the Toronto tandem advanced to the tournament semifinals with a 21-18, 21-18 win over Spain's Daniela Alvarez and Tania Moreno on Wednesday at the Paris Olympics.

The Canadians will play for a chance at gold on Thursday when they face Switzerland's Tanja Hueberli and Nina Brunner in the semifinals. They will still have a berth in the bronze-medal game with a loss.

Being on the precipice of the podium seemed like a far cry for the pair earlier in the tournament, when they went 1-2 in group play and had to win a "lucky loser" match against a Czech team to advance to the Round of 16.

The Canadians have said they take every match like the start of a new tournament, and that mentality has served them well in the knockout stages. They beat second-ranked Americans Taryn Kloth and Kristin Nuss 2-0 in the Round of 16 before defeating Alvarez and Moreno in the first-ever matchup between the teams.

Canada's lone Olympic medal in beach volleyball came in 1996 when the men's duo of John Child and Mark Heese took bronze in Atlanta.

The men's 200-metre semifinals, featuring defending champion Andre De Grasse of Markham, Ont., and Alysha Newman of Delaware, Ont., in the women's pole vault final highlighted later action on Day 12 of the Paris Games.

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Canada entered the day with 18 medals — six gold, four silver and eight bronze.

Earlier, the Olympic heartbreak continued for Canadian long-distance runner Moh Ahmed.

The 33-year-old from St. Catharines, Ont., was in the top seven with about 400 metres left in his 5,000-metre heat when he tripped over the leg of a runner in front of him and took a fall. A handful of other runners fell not long after.

Ahmed, who earned silver in the event at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, got up and continued running but finished 16th with a time of 14 minutes 15.76 seconds

"Unfortunately, while running in the pack Moh stood on the ankle of an athlete in front of him, which caused him to fall," Athletics Canada said in a statement. "We have watched the video several times with the WA (World Athletics) video referee and it was clear that Moh was not impeded or jostled before this happened and so it is considered his responsibility to avoid the athlete in front."

Ahmed finished fourth in the men's 10,000-metre final last Friday.

In track cycling, Lauriane Genest of Levis, Que., and Kelsey Mitchell of Sherwood Park, Alta., advanced to the quarterfinals of the women's keirin by winning their repechage races. Genest won bronze in the event at the Tokyo Games, while Mitchell, the reigning Olympic individual sprint champion, was fifth.

In sprint canoe, Michelle Russell of Fall River, N.S., and Riley Melanson of Dartmouth, N.S., both qualified for the women's singles 500-metre semifinals. Both had to go through the quarterfinals after finishing outside the top two of their heats. Russell was second in her quarterfinal while Melanson was third in her race.

Evan Dunfee of Richmond, B.C., and Olivia Lundman of Lantzville, B.C., were 20th as the race walk mixed marathon made its Olympic debut.

The pair finished in a time of three hours four minutes 57 seconds, more than 14 minutes behind gold-medal winner Spain.

However, the Canadians found plenty to celebrate in a race that was a valuable learning experience for the 21-year-old Lundman, who is in her first Olympics.

"It was so cool to watch that, to see all the work we’ve put in to get here," said Dunfee, 33, acting as coach and mentor as much as teammate. "By far Olivia is the least experienced athlete on that race course, and she showed today how much she deserved to be there."

In women's golf, Alena Sharp of Hamilton was the top Canadian after opening at 1 under, six shots back of leader Celine Boutier of France. Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., who finished seventh at the 2016 Rio Games, opened at 2 over.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 7, 2024.