By REY C. LACHICA
PARIS – Rower Joanie Delgaco got a slice of history after finishing second best among Asian entries in the women’s single sculls in the Paris Olympics.
Fully recovered from a dismal performance the last time – obviously weighed down by the severe heat – Delgaco completed her furious rally to finish second in the Final D with a respectable time of 7:43.83 at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium.
It was her finest showing in five races, bettering her previous best of seven minutes and 55 seconds which she did in the repechage.
That was also enough for her to finish 20th overall in the 24-player, 2,000-meter contest with the finals slated tomorrow.
“It’s still a great feat,” said rowing president Pato Gregorio, who disclosed that Delgaco got a three-month training grant in Germany.
For her stellar performance, Delgaco was also given by Gregorio a surprise bonus amounting to P50,000.
And what made her Olympic debut more special was she outlasted reigning SEA Games champion Pham Thi Hue of Vietnam in the final 500 meters. The Vietnamese clocked 7:47.84.
Asian Games champion and Tokyo Games silver medalist Hanna Prakatsen of Uzbekistan failed to make the 6-player finals but can finish from as high of 7th to 12th places.
Delgago appeared to be a goner when she trailed four other rivals halfway through the contest.
But the one-time Palarong Pambansa standout from Iriga City produced one electrifying burst of speed to take the second position which she wisely protected to salvage some measure of pride.
But not in the case of swimmer Jarod Hatch.
He finished dead last in the 8-player Heat 2 of the 100m butterfly at the Paris La Defense. He clocked only 54.66 against the 51.85 of group top qualifier Chinese Sun Jiajun.
But it was Hungarian Kristof Milak who logged the fastest time so far with 50.19 seconds in Heat 2 followed by the 21-year-old Joshiua Liendo of Canada (50.55), local bet Maxime Grousset (50.65), Canadian Ilya Karun (50.71) and reigning world and Oympic champion Caleb Dressel (50.83.)
