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

Canada's Melissa Humana-Pardes and Brandi Wilkerson faced early eliminations earlier in the Paris Games, but are now just one win away from winning Canada's first-ever women's beach volleyball medal.

The pair from Toronto edged out Spain's Daniela Alvarez and Tania Moreno 21-18, 21-18 in the semifinals of the tournament, held in the shadow of the iconic Eiffel Tower, to come within one step of winning the gold medal. If they lose in the semi-final, they will still have the chance to participate in the ranking match to win the bronze medal.

A podium finish looked out of reach for the pair early in the tournament, as they managed just one win in the group stage and had to settle for a "lucky loser" match against a team from the Czech Republic to advance to the finals. reach the final sixteenth stage.

The Canadians say they approach each match like the start of a new tournament, and that mentality has served them well in the knockout stages. They beat second-ranked USA team Taryn Klott and Christian Nass 2-0 in the round of 16, and then defeated Alvarez and Moreno in their first-ever meeting with Spain.

Canada's only Olympic medal in beach volleyball was a bronze medal for John Child and Mark Hayes at the men's tournament in Atlanta in 1996.

On the 12th day of the Paris Games, the men's 200m semi-final featuring defending champion Andre DeGeres of Markham, Ontario and Alisha Newman of Delaware, Ontario in the women's javelin final were notable events.

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By the end of this day, Canada has won 6 gold, 4 silver and 8 bronze medals, totaling 18 medals.

Earlier, Olympic nostalgia continued for Canadian endurance runner Mohammad Ahmed.

The 33-year-old from St. Catharines, Ontario, was among the top seven runners with about 400 meters to go in the 5,000-meter heats when he suddenly collided with the leg of a runner in front of him and fell. Moments later, several other runners also fell down.

Ahmed, a silver medalist in the event at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, got up and kept running, but ended up finishing 16th in 14 minutes, 15.76 seconds.

"Unfortunately, Mohamed Ahmed stepped on the ankle of an athlete in front of him while running through the group, causing him to fall," Athletics Canada said in a statement. "We watched the video several times with the WA video referee and it was clear that Mohamed was not pushed or tackled before this happened, so it was up to him to avoid the front runner."

Last Friday, Ahmad finished fourth in the final of the men's 10,000 meters race.

In track cycling, Laurianne Genest of Lois, Quebec and Kelsey Mitchell of Sherwood Park, Alberta advanced to the quarterfinals of the women's Cairns event by winning their repechage races. Genest had won bronze in the event at the Tokyo Games, while Olympic champion Mitchell had finished fifth in the women's singles event.

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