Rower Joanie Delgaco to face reigning Olympic champ, European aces in Paris quarterfinals

Joanie Delgaco will look to further extend her already-historic campaign in the 2024 Paris Olympics when she returns to Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium for the women's single sculls quarterfinals on Tuesday at 3:50 p.m. (Philippine time).

The 26-year-old Delgaco, the first-ever Filipina rower to ever compete in the Summer Games, will be in the third heat with no less than reigning gold medalist Emma Twigg of New Zealand, who is out to retain the title for second straight Olympic editions.

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The 37-year-old Twigg won the gold medal in Tokyo when she clocked an Olympic record of seven minutes and 13.97 seconds.

But she isn't the only one standing in the way of the Philippine bet.

Delgaco will also be racing against former under-23 world champion Katharina Janzen of Switzerland, Virginia Diaz of Spain, Diana Dymchenko of Azerbaijan, and Jovana Arsic of Serbia.

Delgaco will need to surpass her two previous finishes so far in the tournament, where she already clocked seven minutes and 56.26 seconds in Heat 2 and seven minutes and 55 seconds when she topped her repechage heat to qualify for the quarterfinals.

This as all of her looming opponents have recorded times faster than her own.

Twigg had the fastest time of seven minutes and 34.97 seconds to top her heat while Diaz and Janzen finished their races in seven minutes and 37.30 seconds and seven minutes and 41.15 seconds, respectively.

Arsic, meanwhile, clocked seven minutes and 48.29 seconds while Dymchenko recorded seven minutes and 52.53 seconds. All five opponents also clinched outright quarterfinals berths, unlike Delgaco who needed to go through the final pathway in repechage.

—JMB, GMA Integrated News