Pavan, Humana-Paredes secure 1st Canadian medal ever at beach volleyball worlds

Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes have secured Canada's first medal in beach volleyball world championships history.

Duo dispatches Switzerland in 3 sets to advance to final

Canada's Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes, seen above at a World Tour event in May, downed Switzerland in three sets to reach the beach volleyball world championships final on Friday. (Buda Mendes/Getty Images)

Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes have secured Canada's first medal in beach volleyball world championships history.

Whether it's gold or silver will be determined Saturday.

Pavan, from Kitchener, Ont., and Toronto's Humana-Paredes, edged Switzerland's Tanja Huberli and Nina Betschart 2-1 (23-21, 17-21, 19-17) in semifinal action on Friday.

Pavan and Humana-Paredes, ranked sixth in the world, will face Americans April Ross and Alexandra Klineman, the No. 5-ranked team, in the gold-medal match.

WATCH | Canadian duo earns historic medal:

FIVB Beach Volleyball Worlds Semifinals: Canada vs Switzerland

5 years ago
Duration 1:24:54
Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes vs Tanja Huberli and Nina Betschart from the world beach volleyball championships in Hamburg, Germany.

Earlier Friday, Pavan and Humana-Paredes beat Marta Menegatti and Viktoria Orsi Toth of Italy 2-0 (21-12, 21-12) in quarterfinal play.

Pavan and Humana-Paredes recorded the previous best finish for Canada in beach volleyball world championships history (the event has been held every two years since 1997) when they finished fourth in 2017 in Vienna.

CBC Sports live coverage

CBC Sports' live stream of the event continues Saturday with the women's final featuring Canada at 9:15 a.m. ET. The women's bronze-medal match goes at 7 a.m. ET. The men's semis wrap up the day at 11 a.m. ET. 

Coverage concludes Sunday with the men's bronze-medal match at 6:30 a.m. ET, followed by the gold at 8 a.m. ET. 

With files from CBC Sports