Trevor Jones and Carling Zeman got off to a strong start in Ontario as they advanced to the quarterfinals in the duo rowing event.
Second after 500 metres, Jones of Lakefield continued the pace to dominate midway. He was never anxious again and finished the 2000m with a time of 7:40:25.
He beat Lithuanian Mindagas Grisconis (7:05.88) and Turkey’s Onat Kazakli (7:20:11), who also secured a place in the quarter-finals on Monday.
The first race is often not the most difficult, but sometimes it can be the most difficult because you don’t know what to expect. Now I know exactly what to expect and I’m ready to go. The level will get higher and higher and my plan will not change. I will need to take action in a timely manner, while remaining calm and in control
The 23-year-old rower said.
Trevor Jones snatched his qualification for the Tokyo Olympics with a silver medal in the final Olympic qualifying regatta in Lucerne, Switzerland, last May.
On the women’s front, Zeman (7:40.72) finished second in her qualifying run. She finished the race behind Austrian Magdalena Luebnig (7:37.91) who quickly forged a lead to go solo to victory.
In qualified waves, the idea is to stay calm and de-stress. That’s what I did. When I finally saw the Austrian, I knew I was close and happy to race. It allows me to advance to the quarter-finals and I will have two days off to prepare for the next race.
Zeman said after his day at work.
This is the 30-year-old’s second Olympic participation. The tenth step was taken in the same event at the 2016 Rio Games.
Gabriel Smith and Jessica Civic go up the hill
In a pair, Gabriel Smith and Jessica Civic also secured their presence in the next round.
It was not an easy task for the Canadians, who had some problems at first. They recovered quickly to move up from fourth to second place and thus advance to the semi-finals that will be shown on Monday.
We went back and trusted our training. We did the right thing and we are excited to see what we can do in the semi-finals
Civic said.
After being touched, the latter also said she was happy to finally resume work and represent Canada for the first time at the Olympics.
It’s special! The past sixteen months have been long. We made a lot of sacrifices and worked a lot to get there. After all the pitfalls, it’s great to be here.
The two pairs qualify for the semi-finals!
Photo: Radio Canada
The Romans and world runners-up Ankota Bodnar and Simona Radice (6:49.79) were the only ones to get ahead of the Maple Leaf duo (6:57.69).
Italians Allessandra Patelli and Chiara Ondolli (6:59.58) took third and final places giving direct access to the next stage.
“Alcohol scholar. Twitter lover. Zombieaholic. Hipster-friendly coffee fanatic.”