All hope is not lost for Filipina rower Joanie Delgaco as she can still make the quarterfinals of the women's single sculls in Paris 2024 through repechage.
Joanie Delgaco is sticking to positives after a tough opening race in the Olympic Games Paris 2024.
Delgaco finished fourth in her heat in women’s single sculls Saturday (PHL time), missing out on a direct quarterfinals berth in Olympic rowing.
Only the top-3 per heat advance outright.
Still, Joanie actually had solid pace to start and was third halfway through the race at 1,000 meters. However, she slowed down in the next 500 meters, allowing Slovenia’s Nina Kostanjsek to overtake.
“Nung unang 1,000 magaan pa yung pakiramdam ko, pero nung papasok na ng 1,500 na pa-finish line, pabigat na yung naf-feel ko,” Delgaco told One Sports.
“Pinu-push ko talaga na i-hold yung pangatlo, pero kinulang,” the first-time Olympian added.
All hope is not lost for Delgaco though, as she can still make the quarterfinals through repechage. It will be a tough road, as she now needs to finish top-2 in her heat to move on.
“Bukas, bawi po ako for the repechage. Sa next day ko, mas paghahandaan ko siya kasi importante yun,” she said.
While it was a tough result for her opening race, Delgaco relished finally making her debut in the Olympics.
In Heat 2, Joanie lined up alongside two-time world champion Karolien Florijn and was admittedly excited racing against the best in the world.
“Na-excite ako kasi first time ko talaga makatapat yung mga nagt-top talaga sa world sa rowing,” she said.
“Tinitignan ko yung top-1 sa world, na-startruck talaga ako. Sabi ko kahit makasabayan ko lang to sa ilang meters, sobrang saya ko na,” Joanie added.
(With reports from Denise Tan/Cignal)