Cruz and Brasher Take Montréal Silver
They won the first set of the final and lost the next two to Brazil's Thâmela Coradello and Victoria Lopes. Canada took both bronze medals, and Anders Mol won the men's title in his last event before a season playing indoors in Italy.
A week ago Kristen Cruz and Taryn Brasher went through the Manhattan Beach Open without losing a set. On Sunday in Montréal they won the first set of a world tour final and did not win another.
Brazil's Thâmela Coradello and Victoria Lopes beat them 19-21, 21-18, 15-12 for gold at the eighth and last Elite16 of the 2026 Beach Pro Tour season.
Thâmela and Victoria had come from a set down in four of their seven matches in Montréal, per Volleyball World. Losing the opening set of the final was, by that measure, the most ordinary thing that happened to them all week.
Canada Took Both Bronze Medals
Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson lost their semifinal in the morning and came back in the afternoon to beat Germany's Svenja Müller and Cinja Tillmann 20-22, 21-12, 18-16.
Sam Schachter and Daniel Pickett did the same thing on the men's side, beating Hendrik Mol and Mathias Berntsen 16-21, 28-26, 15-12 after losing their own semifinal.
Two Canadian pairs, two semifinals lost, two bronze medals won on the same afternoon in front of the same crowd. Schachter had been playing international beach volleyball for more than a decade before Sunday.
I've played for a long time, and nothing gets close to this moment. We needed every ounce of support from our home fans, and they gave us everything we could possibly ask. I'm just so proud of my partner, my team, and everyone who helped me get here.
Mol Won His Last One for a Year
Anders Mol and Christian Sørum beat André Loyola and Renato Lima 21-16, 21-18 for the men's title and did not drop a set all week. It was a third straight Montréal gold.
Mol was asked by Volleyball World afterwards what the week had meant, knowing it was his last on the sand for a season.
We enjoyed every single point we had together here. We know it's going to be a while until the next time, so everything felt just unique and extra special. I'm very happy to have ended this week on a win and proud of the great tournament for Team Norway. The future is really bright.
He is going indoors, not away. Mol plays the 2026-27 season for Rana Verona in Italy's SuperLega and returns to the sand in April 2027, which makes this a year off rather than an ending.
The pair are Olympic champions from Tokyo, bronze medallists from Paris and world champions, and they have won 38 of the 105 international tournaments they have entered together. That is better than one title in every three events they have ever played.
There is no Elite16 left on the 2026 calendar. Cruz and Brasher go home with the summer's biggest American title and a silver medal, which is a good week that will not feel like one for a while.
