After the Upper Austrians narrowly missed direct promotion as third, they made it through the quarter-finals.
The shallow water canoeists Ana Roxana Lehaci and Viktoria Schwarz reached the semifinals on Monday at the Olympic Games in Tokyo in a two-man kayak over 500 m. After the Upper Austrians had missed the direct ascent by 0.346 seconds as third place, they came third in the first two quarter-finals. The top four rose. Lehaci / Schwarz are divided into semifinals two (3.30 a.m. CEST) for Tuesday, the top four go to the final (5.46).
“It was an extremely tough race. The headwinds got stronger and stronger, and the headwinds just don't suit us,” said Schwarz after the quarter-finals when asked by the APA – Austria Press Agency. Because of the wind, their boat was crooked at the start, and then they got off badly. “We screwed up the start,” explained Lehaci. “We must have left a second or two. Because we normally never leave as the last, we are normal with the first.”
Hope for a thunderstorm
30-year-old Lehaci and 36-year-old Schwarz had worked their way up to the 250 m mark in fourth place. “But it was so exhausting,” put in Schwarz. “The wind blew so, the waves came like that. We made sure that we only somehow get to the finish and thank God it was third (place, note). Let's hope that tomorrow the conditions are better. ” They would welcome a possible thunderstorm, because then the conditions usually turn to a tail wind.
The conditions in the quarter-finals were in any case much more difficult with headwinds than in the run-up, when the second-placed boat of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) was not lacking. The change in weather also signaled the running times, Lehaci / Schwarz were more than one and a half seconds slower than about two hours before. The third place instead of the fourth place in their quarter-finals may in any case be an advantage for the semi-finals, the two initially hoped.
“Just give full throttle”
In fact, the ÖOC athletes seem to have caught the slightly weaker run, because both Hungarian and German boats can be found in the other semifinals (3.23 a.m. CEST). For Lehaci / Schwarz, the top four are against two Australian boats and one crew each from Belgium, Poland, New Zealand, Belarus and the ROC team. “We just have to give full throttle to get into the final,” said Schwarz. “We will do everything we can.”
You just have to close your eyes and start paddling, because compared to the previous games it has become twice as difficult. Black has enough experience as she is now a four-time Olympic participant. For Lehaci it is her second appearance after 2016. “I think there is still something in there,” said the native Romanian. “If you're in the final in this field, you might as well get a medal. I couldn't say who is the favorite there.”