JOANIE Delgaco ends her Paris Olympics stint at the 20th spot of the women’s single sculls event. BERTRAND GUAY/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
SPORTS

Delgaco winds up 20th overall

Ivan Suing

Joanie Delgaco capped her debut in the Paris Olympics ranked 20th overall in the women’s single sculls on Friday at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical St.-Flatwater.

Delgaco submitted a time of seven minutes and 43.83 seconds to finish in second place in the Final D in her last day of the competition.

Alejandra Alonso Alderete of Paraguay topped Final D with a time of 7:42.09 minutes.

Despite falling short of making it to the medal round, the Camarines Sur native still remains as the only Filipino female rower to reach this far in the women’s single sculls of the Summer Games.

After faltering in the preliminary heats with a time of 7:56.26 minutes, Delgaco topped the repechage after clocking in 7:55.00 minutes.

Delgaco’s medal hunt ended after she finished last in Heat 3 of the quarterfinal after a clocking of 7:58.30 minutes as she was relegated to the classification races.

Despite this, she holds her head high as she is the second Filipino rower ever to reach a quarterfinal in the Olympics after Southeast Asian (SEA) Games gold medalist Cris Nievarez did the trick in the Tokyo Games in 2021.

Delgaco is also the best female Southeast Asian rower in the tournament after SEA Games champion Pham Thi Hue of Vietnam finished with 7:47.84 minutes.