Oct. 27, 2023: The 2023 Santiago Pan American Games beach volleyball tournament concluded Friday with dramatic finals and a silver medal for Canada’s Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson, both of Toronto, Ontario.
Brazilians Ana Patricia and Duda won gold in a tight 2-0 (22-20, 21-18) match over Wilkerson and Humana-Paredes in the women’s final. The bronze medal went to Corine Quiggle and Sarah Lewis of the United States, who defeated Argentina’s Ana Gallay and Fernanda Pereyra 2-0 (21-18, 21-10).
“Every game we learn a lot it was a high-pressure final against a strong team and so there’s always the win there” said Wilkerson “We put ourselves out there, trying our hardest and going for it, and the errors that we made were because we were trying to score, we weren’t afraid and we were ready to win…. At this stage in our partnership, we want to be feeling strong and secure, but still have room to grow as a team.”
For Humana-Paredes, whose parents are from Chile, the experience had special significance.
“There was an extra level gratitude and fulfillment in a way that you want to do two countries proud, and you want to represent both of them really well… it’s extra special and you feel supported doubly,” she said.
On the men’s side, George and André of Brazil clinched the gold medal by defeating Cubans Noslen Díaz and Jorge Alayo 2-1 (21-12, 19-21, 15-13). Chile’s Marco Grimalt and Esteban Grimalt won the bronze medal with a 2-1 (21-14, 18-21, 15-12) victory over Hagen Smith and Logan Webber of the USA.
Canada’s men’s team of Jake MacNeil and Alex Russell advanced from their pool, then defeated Uruguay in the round of 12, falling to home-crowd favourits Chile in the quarterfinals.
Their final match was for classification and Canada defeated Argentina’s Capogrosso/Capogrosso 2-0 (21-15, 21-17), then secured fifth after Mexico withdrew from the final 5-6 match.
“We are really happy with our performance overall in the tournament; we got to play a lot of top teams and we were able to get some clutch big wins and were able to learn a lot. Although we weren’t able to play this last match (as Mexico withdrew due to injury), we still got a ton of volume and got to play in front of these incredible fans in this unbelievable venue. We’re grateful for this experience and are proud of our team for the fifth place.”
Alex Russell agreed: “It was so much fun and it just felt like we learned from every match and we got better. As a team, and with the support of the staff, we are beyond grateful for that. We met so many Canadian athletes on Team Canada – it was really cool.”
