Wilkerson Looking to Turn Heads With Dynamic New Partner

Canadian beach superstar Brandie Wilkerson is ready to kick-off the 2022 FIVB season – and she’s doing it with a new partner by her side. After finishing fifth at the Tokyo Olympics with two-time Olympian Heather Bansley – Wilkerson has left that partnership and is going off in a new direction. Just this week, the 29-year-old announced she is teaming up with Toronto native and former world junior champion Sophie Bukovec.

“Post Olympics I was deliberating a lot of options about what I wanted to do next. By the time it got to the end of the year, Sophie was one of the top athletes I was contemplating and hoping that she was available. I reached out to her to see what her plans were and she was very open and enthusiastic,” says Wilkerson.

The move comes as a surprise to many volleyball insiders and fans who watched Wilkerson and Bansley achieve tremendous success over the last quadrennial, including holding the number one world ranking at one point. Their Tokyo Olympics experience included a huge win over Americans Sponcil and Claes to send them into the quarterfinals, where their tournament came to an end after losing to Latvia. Wilkerson says she learned so much from her Olympic experience and she’s carrying those lessons into this upcoming season.

“It really matured me and my confidence and my capability and what I’ve learned about myself and the things I want moving forward.”

It would appear one of those things Wilkerson wants is a new partner heading into this next Olympic cycle. Teaming up with 26-year-old Sophie Bukovec is especially interesting considering that like Wilkerson, Bukovec is a natural blocker. However, the last few years Bukovec has worked incredibly hard to make the shift and learn the defender role as well – in the event an opportunity like pairing up with someone of Wilkerson’s caliber should arise. That hard work in the gym has seen her vertical touch increase from 10 feet back in her university days, to touching 10 ft 6 inches now.

“A lot of the focus in the last few years has been getting in the best possible physical shape I can be. Training on the sand wasn’t always accessible during the pandemic. My focus was best preparing my body for an opportunity like this and when Brandie reached out it was an absolute yes,” explained Bukovec.

The duo just landed in Brazil this past weekend and they will be training on the sand in Rio for the next month before launching into the FIVB world tour starting in Mexico. While interviewing the two together, it was evident how excited they both are for this partnership.

“We are extremely athletic and we bring a certain edge with our jumping ability, height, dynamic and powerful movement,” explained Wilkerson. “I think our enthusiasm and energy is pretty consistent and aligns well. We will both be pretty high energy the entire time. It will be a force you will definitely feel when playing against us.”

The Canadians credit their talented coaching staff, including Rico Defreitas and Adriana Bento, with preparing them for this upcoming season. This athletic duo will have to hit the ground running, as they have only weeks to train until their first FIVB tour stop. Bukovec describes her partnership with Wilkerson as “a marriage, but with the end goal of qualifying for the Olympics.” However, with Paris 2024 being just two years away, thanks to a shorter cycle brought on by the pandemic – there will be no time for a honeymoon.

“Things are expected to happen faster. We are both excited for that challenge. We have to be up front and ready for the challenges ahead of us,” says Bukovec. “We don’t have a gap year to figure things out. It’s like going from 0 to 100 as fast as possible, but I think those challenges are something that Brandie and I thrive off of.”