Canada’s place at the Olympic Games LA28 may have been secured in 2026, but the foundations for that moment were laid years earlier.
It is a journey that has taken the women’s national team from 18th in the world in 2018 to regular competition against the sport’s best. Along the way came a stronger development pathway and a more integrated high-performance environment.
Inevitably, there were setbacks. None were more painful than narrowly missing qualification for the Olympic Games Paris 2024. But Canada kept working and building and now, two years later, the rewards of those efforts are clear.
In 2026, CAN achieved its first ever appearance at the VNL (Volleyball Nations League) Finals, ultimately finishing in sixth place. They also won their first ever NORCECA Continental Championship and qualified for the LA28 Olympic Games, which marks the Canadian women’s teams return to the Olympic Games for the first time in 32 years.
For Volleyball Canada Women’s Programme High-Performance Director Shannon Winzer, the achievement belongs to everyone who helped move the programme forward.
“Olympic qualification means so much to everyone involved in this program. Missing out in 2024 was heartbreaking, especially knowing how far we had come and how close we were,” Winzer said.
“What I do know is that this is bigger than just this group. There are so many athletes, coaches and staff who have come before us and helped build this programme, and they deserve to feel part of this moment too.”
Learning by competing with the best
One of the first major steps in Canada’s rise came in 2019.
A year after returning to the World Championships and finishing 18th, Canada won the FIVB Challenger Cup to earn promotion to the VNL. That gave the team something crucial: regular opportunities to compete against the world’s best.
Canada made its VNL debut in 2021, while the launch of the National Excellence Program in Richmond helped strengthen the daily environment around the team. On-court training was increasingly supported by strength and conditioning, medicine, performance science and wider athlete services, while closer links were developed between the U17, U19 and U21 teams, NextGen Program and the Senior National Team.
At the World Championship 2022, Canada finished 10th – eight places higher than the previous edition – as the team continued to show that it belonged at the highest level.
Long-term support for long-term progress
The FIVB Volleyball Empowerment programme became part of Canada’s journey in 2020 through targeted support.
Since then, more than USD 1.5 million has been invested in the women’s programme. The support has complemented Volleyball Canada’s wider work to strengthen structures around the national team for sustained international performance.
Coaching leadership has also evolved over the period. Tom Black helped guide Canada to VNL promotion, Winzer led the programme through its development during the Paris 2024 cycle, and Giovanni Guidetti took charge as Canada turned its attention towards LA28.
Each stage added another layer to what was being built.
Paris heartbreak fuels redemption
By 2024, the scale of Canada’s progress was unmistakable.
The team climbed as high as World No.8 and recorded victories over strong teams such as China, the Dominican Republic and Japan.
Olympic qualification, however, remained just out of reach.
Canada went into the decisive stages of the qualification race with a chance to secure a place at Paris 2024, only for a defeat against the Netherlands to end their dream.
For outside hitter Alexa Gray, who joined the national team in 2017, this low made the eventual breakthrough even more meaningful.
“I started on the National Team in 2017, and this has been my lifelong dream. We’ve just come so far since that time,” Gray said.
“We were so, so close last quad and we were heartbroken. I’m just so proud of how we came out today; it was a tough environment, but this team means everything to me and I’m just so happy to represent Canada.”
A breakthrough year
At the start of the international season, Guidetti and his players set themselves two major targets: reach the VNL Finals and qualify for LA28.
They achieved both.
“I cannot ask for anything better,” Guidetti said. “It was a long season where the team worked very hard and improved. I’m extremely happy.”
For national team setter Brie Fransen, the emotion of securing that Olympic place was equally powerful.
“It’s so surreal,” she said. “I’m so proud of the team and staff of how much we have battled through. We deserve this and it’s such an amazing feeling to feel the reward of all the work. It wasn’t easy today and I’m really proud of the way we fought. I cannot wait to see what we can do!”
For Canada, Olympic qualification has been years in the making – competing against the world’s best, developing athletes and strengthening coaching, performance and support structures around the national team.
After a long 32-year wait, Canada is headed back to the Games. The focus now shifts to LA28 – and to seeing how far a programme built patiently and purposefully over many years can go on the Olympic stage.
