Crews and athletes in six events punched their tickets for the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics at the America's Qualification Regatta in Rio. Athletes from 21 countries competed for berths in the Men's & Women's Singles, Men's & Women's Lightweight Doubles, and the Men's & Women's PR1 adaptive singles.
The regatta, running on the 2016 Olympic course in Rio de Janeiro, was completed "ahead of schedule" as the mayor of Rio posted new coronavirus restrictions during the regatta, meaning that the event had to conclude a day early. The regatta finals were run on Friday afternoon instead of Saturday morning.
All final Olympic Qualification regattas follow strict rules designed to keep the Olympics entry as broad as possible. While the qualification system nominally called for the top five singles and top three lightweight doubles to secure qualification, in practice the system is more complicated than straight up finishing order.
To wit, WorldRowing's qualification document states that "at the Continental Qualification Regattas, an NOC may qualify a maximum of one boat. If two boats from an NOC meet the qualification criteria at a Continental Qualification Regatta, then it is the highest-ranking boat that qualifies. In the case that two or more boats have an equal ranking other than first place, the NOC shall select one of these boats to qualify for the Games." In other words, crews are not simply competing against the crews in their event, but also against crews from their own country to achieve the best result possible.
As one observer noted, "it must be hard to be competing at an event like this while rooting against your own teammates."
The only exception would be if one country won more than one event, in which case both first-place crews would qualify for the Olympics. As we'll see, these complex qualification rules resulted in a few crews qualifying for Tokyo via the B-Finals, as well as a few Olympic spots left undecided as NOCs wait to make a final decision.
WorldRowing's website has full info on the Olympic and Paralympic qualification rules.
Men's Single
In the Men's Single, Brazil's Lucas Ferreira took the win and the qualifying spot. Finishing behind Ferreira were Chile's Felipe Cardenas Morales, Axel Haack of Argentina, Martin Zocalo of Uruguay and Alvaro Torres Masias of Peru.
The complicated qualification rules were in full effect for this event; for the Argentinian and Uruguayan scullers, both had the misfortune to have other crews from their country finish higher than they did at the regatta, which meant that qualification rolled down to Peru's Torres Masias. With five spots in play in the event, Bermuda's Dara Alizadeh (former Belmont Hill and UPenn rower) and Felix Damian Potoy of Nicaragua both claimed Olympics berths out of the B-Final.
For Chile's Cardenas Morales, qualification hangs in the balance as the Chilean Light Men's Double of Cesar Abaroa and Eber Sanhueza Rojas also finished second in their event, leaving the Chilean Olympic Committee to pick one of these two crews for the Olympic slot.
Women's Single
The women's single was a little more straightforward, with Mexico's Kenia Lechuga Alanis winning the event, and the four athletes behind her all also qualifying. Finishing second was Paraguay's Alejandra Alonso (a student-athlete at Florida's Barry University), followed by US-based Aisha Chow, competing for Trinidad & Tobago, and qualifying for her second Olympic Games. Cuba's Milena Venegas Cansio and Puerto Rico's Veronica Toro Arana, an MIT grad, rounded out the qualifying field.
Mexico's Lechguga Alanis is as close to a Mexican national treasure as a rower could ever hope to be; she has 300,000 followers on Instagram.
The Miami-based Toro Arana, who in 2014 became the first woman to represent Puerto Rico at the World Rowing Championships, now becomes the first female Puerto Rican rowing Olympian.
Toro Arana prepared for the Qualifier by racing in last month's US Olympic Trials, finishing 20th in the initial time trial at the regatta.
Men's Lightweight Double
Event winners Uruguay, with Felipe Kluver and Bruno Cetraro crossing the line first, claimed the Olympic berth. For second place Chile, qualification remains in limbo due to the equal second place finish of the Chilean single sculler in the earlier event. With the lower placing crews from Brazil, Mexico and Argentina all "placed out" of qualification by crews in other events, the second qualified crew in the event was Venezuela's Jose Guipe Jimenez and Cesar Amaris Fernandez, who finished in 6th place.
Women's Lightweight Double
Argentina's Evelyn Silvestro and Milka Kraljev won this event handily, with Kraljev headed to her third Olympic games. Finishing behind them were Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Peru and Guatemala. With the 2nd - 5th place crews all prevented from qualifying due to the continental qualification rules, Guatemala's Yulisa Lopez Guerra and Jenniffer Zuniga earned the Olympic ticket.
PR1 Singles
Seven athletes raced in the adaptive events for Paralympic tickets; Argentina won both events, with Alejandro Magno Vera taking the men's event and Brenda Sardon taking the women's event. As with the open events, qualification is not straightforward.
WorldRowing explains that, "as only one qualification is available for a single National Paralympic Committee, this will now have to be confirmed by a decision of the Argentine's National Paralympic Committee." Mexico claimed both runners-up spots, with Michel Munoz Malagon in the men's event, and Daniela Sanchez Bohorquez, racing in her first international rowing event, finishing second in the women's event. A final determination of Olympic qualification in these events is expected soon.
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