Team Canada won two bronze medals on Sunday at the Beach Volleyball Elite16 in Montreal, Quebec. Sam Schachter of North York, Ontario and Jonny Pickett of Wiarton, Ontario won the bronze medal in the men’s event and Canadian Olympic silver medalists Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson of Toronto, Ontario won the bronze medal in the women’s event. Schachter and Pickett as well as Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson lost their semifinal games on Sunday, but both bounced back to win their bronze medal games.
Schachter and Pickett lost 21-12, 16-21, 16-14 to Andre Stein and Renato Andrew Lima de Carvalho of Brazil. They then reached the podium by beating Hendrik Nikolai Mol and Mathias Berntsen of Norway, 16-21, 28-26, 15-12. Pickett had nine block points. Anders Berntsen Mol and Christian Sandlie Sorum of Norway won the gold medal as they defeated Stein and Lima de Carvalho 21-16, 21-18 in the gold medal game.
Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson won the silver medal in women’s beach volleyball at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. On Sunday in the semifinals, they lost to Thamela Coradello Galil and Victoria Lopes Pereira Tosta of Brazil 19-21, 22-20, 15-7. Then in the bronze medal game, Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson beat Svenja Muller and Cinja Tillman of Germany, 20-22, 21-12, 18-16. Galil and Lopes Pereira Tosta won the gold medal as they beat Taryn Basher and Kristen Cruz of the United States 19-21, 21-18, 15-12 in the gold medal game. The bronze medals for Schachter, Pickett, Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson will give them confidence as they prepare for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
