Joanie Delgaco ended her Olympic Games debut with an overall 20th-place finish in the Paris 2024 Rowing women’s single sculls after crossing the finish line in the Final D race in second place with a time of 7:43.83.
Determined to make up for missing the C Final with an 8:00.18 finish in the Semifinal C/D, the multiple-time SEA Games medalist started strong and was one of the fastest out of the lanes in the Nautical Stadium in Vaires-sur-Marne.
The Camarines Sur native crossed the first checkpoint at the 500-meter mark in fourth place with 1:53.30, just a second behind Vietnam’s Pham Thi Hue.
Delgaco slipped to fifth at the halfway mark but found her second wind to move into the second spot just behind Paraguay’s Alejandra Alonso Alderete at the tail end of the course.
The first-ever Filipina Olympic rower tried to overhaul the deficit but eventually fell short of a win in her last race of the Games.
Delgaco, nonetheless, improved on Cris Nievarez’s performance on the men’s side of the same event. The second Filipino male rower in the Tokyo Olympics ended in 23rd place with a fifth-place finish in the same D Final.
The Bicolana started Team Philippines’ campaign with a fourth-place finish in the heats after a strong first 1000 meters with a 7:56.26, putting her into the repechage, where she pulled off her lone win of the Games with 7:55.00.
That victory in the second-chance race put her into the quarterfinals, where she eventually finished in last place with 7:58.30, relegating her to the C/D Semifinals.
With her fastest time to close her campaign, there is nowhere to go but up for the 26-year-old, who will be looking to make the Olympics again in Los Angeles.
