By Philip O’Connor
PARIS (Reuters) -New Zealand’s reigning Olympic champion Emma Twigg eased into the single sculls semi-finals at the Paris Games on Tuesday, breaking away at the mid-point of the race to win comfortably at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium.
With the first three racers in each of the four quarter-finals going through, the 37-year-old Kiwi set the fastest time of the day in the third race, completing the course in 7:26.89 to book her spot in Thursday’s semis.
“I knew that there was going to be a race on behind me, so I guess it was go out there and control it and try to not get caught up in the race behind me,” Twigg told Reuters.
Australia’s Tara Rigney won the first quarter-final in a time of 7:30.57, while Dutch rower Karolien Florijn, silver medallist in the coxless four in Tokyo, took the second, with Viktoija Senkute of Lithuania winning the last race.
As the temperature rose, New Zealand enjoyed more success in the men’s single sculls when Thomas Mackintosh secured a win in the lead-off men’s quarter-final.
“Initially getting on the water it’s not too bad but as you progress through your warm-up and your heart rate starts to climb, you suddenly start to feel the heat a lot more,” Mackintosh told Reuters.
“I think it’s mid-30s today but it feels like 40 probably when you’re out there exercising.”
With Netherlands, Spain and Romania going through in the first men’s double sculls semi-final, the second race turned out to be a thriller as the Irish pair of Daire Lynch and Philip Doyle held on to win ahead of the crews from the United States and New Zealand, with Germany missing out on a place in the final.
The women’s races were equally tight, with New Zealand, Netherlands and France all progressing from the first semi-final and Romania, Britain and Norway finishing within 1.06 seconds of each other in the second to qualify.
(Reporting by Philip O’Connor; Editing by Ken Ferris and Clare Fallon)
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