The sixth-seeded pair registered a 32-34, 21-12, 15-6 win over their fifth-seeded opponents to celebrate the 150th anniversary of "Canada Day" in style in the Croatian resort town of Peškera Ba.

Canada has now won four gold medals on the international circuit since the formation of the women’s FIVB World Tour in 1992.

It was a case of third time lucky for Pavan, who finished runner-up in the first two Major Series events in Poreč.

She and Heather Bansley lost to Brazil’s Talita Antunes and Larissa Franca in the 2015 final and Germany’s Chantel Laboureur and Julia Sude in last year’s gold medal match.

Pavan and Humana-Paredes, who are playing their first full-season together on the FIVB World Tour, are now 3-0 against Hermannova and Slukova having beaten them earlier this season in Brazil and The Netherlands.

In today’s semi-finals, Pavan and Humana-Paredes defeated Brazil’s Barbara Seixas and Fernanda Alves 21-16, 21-11 before Hermannova and Slukova defeated Switzerland’s Nina Betschart and Tanja Huberli 22-20, 12-21, 15-10.

Betschart and Huberli recovered to overcome Seixas and Alves 21-14, 21-19 in the bronze medal match.

In the men’s event, defending champions Alison Cerutti and Bruno Oscar Schmidt won their two elimination matches today to reach the semi-finals.

Bidding for a 13th FIVB World Tour gold medal, the reigning Olympic and world champions opened play with a 21-17, 34-32 victory over Spain’s Pablo Herrera and Adrian Gavira before posting a 21-12, 21-19 quarter-final win over the United States’ Theodore Brunner and Casey Patterson.

Awaiting them in the penultimate round are Italy’s Daniele Lupo and Paolo Nicolai, who advanced with wins over Latvia’s Aleksandrs Samoilovs and Janis Smedins, 21-12, 14-21, 15-11, and the US’s Taylor Crabb and Jacob Gibb, 21-17, 17-21, 15-11.

The other semi-final pits Brazil’s Gustavo "Guto" Carvalhaes and Pedro Solberg against Russia’s Oleg Stoyanovskiy and Artem Yarzutkin.

The Brazilians netted wins over third-seeded Americans Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena, 21-10, 21-17, and Austria’s Clemens Doppler and Alexander Horst, 21-15, 21-16.

After benefiting from a forfeit win over The Netherlands’ Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen to open play today, Stoyanovskiy and Yarzutkin earned their third World Tour semi-final appearance in 23 FIVB starts with 21-17, 19-21, 17-15 quarter-final victory over Poland's Maciej Rudol and Jakub Szalankiewicz. 

Tomorrow's semi-finals will be followed by the gold and bronze medal matches.