NORCECA
Paris 2024 silver medallists Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson have secured a women’s beach volleyball spot for Team Canada at the LA28 Olympic Games.
The Canadian duo defeated Megan Kraft and Kelly Cheng of the United States 2-0 (21-16, 27-25) in Sunday’s final of the 2026 NORCECA Beach Volleyball Championship in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico.
With the victory, Canada claimed NORCECA’s lone direct women’s berth for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.
“It feels incredible to have secured something of this magnitude at this point in the season, and in the Olympic qualification process,” explained Humana-Paredes. “This tournament was really hard for us, so just winning always feels good and having that extra bonus of qualifying for the Olympics is wonderful. We can go into our off-season knowing that we did great work, and we’ll prepare for the next season.”
The Canadians faced an undefeated American team in the final and delivered a strong performance to secure the Olympic quota spot. After taking the opening set 21-16, Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson faced a tougher battle in the second, eventually closing it out 27-25.
The Canadians needed several match points to close out a marathon second set. Wilkerson recorded a key kill to give Canada a 26-25 lead before Humana-Paredes sealed the victory with a serve the Americans couldn’t return.
LA 2028 Team Canada Qualification Tracker
The Canadians advanced to the final earlier Sunday with a 21-12, 21-18 semifinal victory over Mexico’s Susana Torres and Abril Flores.
Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson finished second in Pool B with a 3-1 record, with their only loss coming against the Americans. The Canadians were the only team to take a set off Kraft and Cheng during pool play, winning the opening set in their Saturday meeting before the Americans rallied to take the match.
Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson carried that momentum into the knockout rounds, winning both their quarterfinal and semifinal matches without dropping a set.
The NORCECA Championship, held November 6-8 at the Areia Sports Complex, was the first stage of the beach volleyball qualification process for LA 2028. A total of 24 team quota spots are available in each gender, with the remaining places to be allocated through the 2027 FIVB World Championships, the FIVB Olympic Ranking and the Olympic Q-Series in 2028.
READ: Montreal to host third stop of the Olympic Q-Series
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