Mariafe Artacho del Solar Takes Home Silver in Women’s Beach Volleyball at Tokyo Games

2020 Tokyo Games

It may not be the color she’d aimed for, but Mariafe Artacho del Solar is officially an Olympic medalist…

The 27-year-old Peruvian Australian beach volleyball player and her partner Taliqua Clancy claimed the silver medal in women’s beach volleyball at the 2020 Tokyo Games.

Mariafe Artacho del Solar i

Artacho del Solar and Clancy, who upset the World No. 1 and reigning world champions Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes of Canada, in the quarterfinals, lost their gold medal match to Team USA’s April Ross and Alix Klineman in straight sets (15-21, 16-21).

According to volleyballmag.com, the teams played against each other five times before meeting at the Olympics with the Australians holding a 3-2 edge. Artacho del Solar and Clancy won the most recent match on May 1 in the semifinals of the FIVB Cancun four-star tournament.

This is Artacho del Solar’s first Olympic medal. She made her Games debut at the 2016 Rio Games with then-partner Nicole Laird, where they finished in 19th place.