Joanie Delgaco has to maintain her consistency if she wants to emerge with a medal in the rowing competition of the Paris Olympics in July.
National team head coach Ed Maerina said Delgaco is still a work in progress, something that they realized when she finished fourth in the women’s single sculls event of the 2024 Asian and Oceania Qualification Regatta last April in Chungju, South Korea.
Although her performance served as her ticket to the Summer Games, Delgaco still showed some weaknesses, something that Maerina and Uzbek coach Shukrat Ganiev need to address entering the last two months of her Olympic preparation.
“In the tournament, she was able to leave everybody in the first 1000m. But she wasn’t able to keep her momentum after that,” said Maerina, adding that Delgaco’s preparation will reach its peak in June.
“She’s training here at the La Mesa Dam until she sets up camp in France in June.”
So far, Southeast Asian Games gold medalist Cris Nievarez has the best record for Filipino rowers in the Olympics after reaching the quarterfinal of the men’s single sculls of the Tokyo Summer Games.
Maerina, who campaigned in the 1988 Seoul Games, said he will accompany Delgaco in the Philippine Olympic Committee-organized training camp in Metz, France from 22 June to 22 July.
The 26-year-old rower, however, will be under the direct supervision of Ganiev when she competes in the Summer Games.
“Me and Coach Shukrat will be monitoring her training here. In France, I’m going to be the only coach there to join her,” Maerina said.
