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| Joanie Delgaco barely missed out on gaining outright quarterfinal entry but has another chance on Sunday. Reuters |
MANILA--Filipina rower Joanie Delgaco missed out on an outright entry to the women's single sculls rowing quarterfinals after finishing fourth in Heat 2 of the preliminary round on Saturday at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium in France.
The 26-year-old female rower, making her Olympic debut, finished at the time of 7:56.26, nearly 10 seconds slower than third placer Nina Kostanjsek of Slovenia (7:46.3) and almost 20 seconds behind heat winner Karolien Florijn of the Netherlands (7:36.9).
Only the top three finishers per heat will make the quarterfinals, while the rest will be relegated to the repechage rounds.
Delgaco looked to be on the course of making the Top 3 in her heat as she was ahead of Kostanjsek for third place in the first half of the two-kilometer race.
The Slovenian, however, overtook Delgaco within the final kilometer to take the third spot.
Delgaco, though, emerged as the best Southeast Asian women's single sculls rower in the heat stages as the other two Southeast Asians in the competition finished barely beyond eight minutes.
Vietnam's Pham Thi Hue and Singapore's Saiyidah Rafaee came in fourth and fifth, respectively in Heat 5 with Pham clocking in at 8:03.84 and Rafaee finishing at 8:17.04.
Delgaco, Pham, and Rafaee will all compete in the first phase of the repechage on Sunday as they have a second chance at making the quarterfinals.
New Zealand's Emma Twigg, the event's defending champion, ruled Heat 3 at the time of 7:34.97, while Lithuania's Viktorija Senkute emerged as the fastest finisher in the heats after winning Heat 4 at the time of 7:30.01.
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