Joanie Delgaco finishes fourth in Heat 2, moves to repechage round of Olympic rowing

Joanie Delgaco fell short of an outright quarterfinals seat, but kept her bid alive after securing a second chance through the repechage round in the women's single sculls of the 2024 Paris Olympics on Saturday at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium. 

The Filipina rower clocked in seven minutes and 56.26 seconds to finish fourth in the six-member field while Karolien Florijn of the Netherlands dominated the heat round right from the get-go, topping the group with seven minutes and 36.90 second-outing. 

Aurelia-Maxima Katharina Janzen of Switzerland and Nina Kostanjsek of Slovenia wound up second and third after finishing the race with seven minutes and 36.15 seconds and seven minutes and 46.30 seconds, respectively. 

Delgaco had an impressive start, reaching the 500 and 1000meter marks at third spot and was just 9.70 seconds behind Florijn and Janzen. However, Kostanjsek caught up with the Filipina bet by the time the racers reached the 1500 meter mark as Delgaco could not sustain the momentum. 

Only the top three finishers each heat will advance to the quarterfinals while the rest of the contestants will still need to battle it out in the repechage stage.  The 26-year-old rower will look to book a quarterfinal spot on Sunday at 3 p.m. in the repechage, where only the top two athletes will move on to the next round while the remaining athletes will go to the classification round to determine the final rankings. 

Delgaco, the first Filipina rower to ever set foot at the Olympics, marked the country's centennial participation at the Summer Games and will be followed later tonight by gymnast Carlos Yulo. 

Delgaco clinched her Paris slot through the  2024 Asia Oceania Qualification Tournament last April, where she finished fourth by registering seven minutes and 49.39 seconds. 

READ MORE | Philippines at the 2024 Paris Olympics

—JKC, GMA Integrated News