World number ones Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes say there’s more to come from them after the pair won Commonwealth gold in Gold Coast

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Sarah Pavan (left) and Melissa Humana-Paredes have shot to the top of the world ranking after less than a year on the sand together. Photocredit: Beach Major Series

A year ago, Melissa Humana-Paredes and Sarah Pavan had yet to even play a World Tour event together (they say they’re not counting the World Tour Finals in Toronto – but we won’t go there…)

Fast forward 12 months and the awesome Canadians have added a historic Commonwealth title to their list of honors collected over the past season.

A first Beach Volleyball Major Series medal came in Poreč, they followed that up with bronze in Gstaad and the pair then went on to finish fourth in not only the World Championships but also the World Tour Finals.

The dynamic duo might have been frustrated with a fifth place finish in Fort Lauderdale Major, but they won’t care about that tonight as they celebrated Commonwealth Games glory – denying Australians Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho Del Solar and Australia another gold after the men’s success earlier in the day.

After they’ve eaten a celebratory pizza, the world’s number one team now have set their sights set on getting even better.

“The sky’s the limit!” a grinning Melissa told us afterwards. “Honestly, it’s pretty surreal. This is what you dream about an athlete. For it to happen so quickly and so consistently means what we’re doing is working.

“It’s no fluke, and we’re in this for the long run. We know what our potential is and we’re not there yet. This means so much but there’s a lot more we can give. It’s so exciting.”

Taliqua Clancy (left) and Mariafe Artacho Del Solar added another medal to their growing collection. Photocredit: Beach Major Series

Pavan was at her dominating best at the net to silence the partisan home crowd and the blocker echoed her teammate’s sentiments.

“It’s exciting but the exciting thing is we can get better,” Sarah said. “Our ceiling is so high and we’re always working on things to improve. That growth mindset is going to really help us along the way.”

Despite finishing as runners-up, Artacho Del Solar and Clancy can take heart from a hugely successful start to their partnership.

The duo only joined forces last October and now have a Commonwealth silver to add to the two World Tour golds and two Asian tour golds tournaments already.

“Sarah and Mel are a great team, unfortunately we couldn’t beat them today but it’s been a great start for us as a partnership,” Artacho Del Solar said afterwards. “This experience is really going to us help going forward.”

In the bronze medal match, there was joy for Vanuatu as Miller Pata and Linline Matauatu saw off Mariota Angelopoulou and Manolina Konstantinou of Cyprus in straight sets.

There was a special guest on the podium: Miller Pata's seven-month-old son Tommy celebrated with his mum. Photocredit: Beach Major Series