Martin completed the course in 7.17.71 minutes, leaving the Hungarian, Japanese, Peruvian, Czech, and Kazakh rowers behind by a minimum of seven seconds. In the last 500 meters, Damir practically rested and kept his strength for the semifinals, which are scheduled in three days, reports. HRT.
“I am satisfied with the race and I can say that everything went according to plan. I wanted to go at my maximum for the first 1500 meters to see how much I could and I did it the way I wanted. Now there will be a slightly longer break of two days, and the semifinals should start in three days. Bad weather is expected. The main goal is to recover well before the semi-finals because it will be a very difficult race,” said Martin, who took silver at the Olympics in London and Rio de Janeiro.
“I go from race to race. I have one wish, and the current situation is good and I think I am going in the right direction to qualify for the finals. I do not deal with competition, I see that there are some surprises, but I do not have them and will not have them,” concluded Damir.
Due to the announcement of a typhoon that could also affect the Sea Forest track in Tokyo Bay, the singles quarterfinal races were moved from Monday to Sunday, but that seemed to be in favor of our Olympian.
The weather forecast is closely monitored in the Olympic rowing program, new information arrives every six hours, so it is not possible to know for sure the date of Damir Martin’s semifinal performance, but there is very little chance that it will be according to the original schedule – on Wednesday.
RESULTS, singles, quarterfinals, group 3: 1. DAMIR MARTIN (CRO) 7: 17.71, 2. Bendeguz Petervari-Molnar (MAĐ) 7: 24.63, 3. Ryuta Arakawa (JAP) 7: 26.04, 4. Alvaro Torres Masias (PER) 7: 31.85, 5. Jan Fleissner (CZECH) 7: 37.01, 6. Vladislav Yakovlev (KAZ) 7: 39.47.
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