The Canadian women鈥檚 beach volleyball team will play for gold at the Paris Olympics after defeating Switzerland 14-21, 22-20, 15-12 in semifinal play at Eiffel Tower Stadium.

After dropping the opener, Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson saved a match ball against Tanja Hueberli and Nina Brunner in the second set before forcing a decider on extra points.

The Canadians sealed the win on their second match point when Switzerland sent the ball long.

Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson, both from Toronto, will play the winner of the late semifinal between Australia and top-ranked Brazil on Friday.

Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson are the first Canadian women鈥檚 beach volleyball team to reach the Olympic podium. Canada鈥檚 best previous result was a fifth-place finish at the Tokyo Games in 2021.

Canada reached the men鈥檚 podium at the 1996 Games when Mark Heese and John Child took bronze in Atlanta.

The Canadian Press