Romanian duo rows to Olympic gold in women's double sculls; Canada places 6th
Gabrielle Smith, Jessica Sevick the 1st Canadian rowers to reach a final in Tokyo
Romania's Ancuta Bodnar and Simona Radis powered their way to the first rowing gold medal of the Tokyo Olympics on Wednesday as the pair captured the women's double sculls crown.
Bodnar and Radis finished in six minutes 41.03 seconds — more than three seconds ahead of New Zealand's Brooke Donoghue and Hannah Osborne, who took silver in 6:44.82.
Roos de Jong and Lisa Scheenaard of the Netherlands earned bronze with a time of 6:45.73.
The rowing medal events had been delayed for a day because of bad weather forecasts amid a tropical storm. Once back on the water, Bodnar and Radis — both 22 — bolted from the start and never let up in a dominating performance. Their sprint to victory left the only fight for the silver medal.
First gold of the day!<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ROU?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ROU</a> gets the opening <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Rowing?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Rowing</a> medal of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Tokyo2020?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Tokyo2020</a> with the fastest ever Olympic time of 6:41.03 in the women's double sculls!<a href="https://twitter.com/WorldRowing?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@WorldRowing</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/olympicromania?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@olympicromania</a> <a href="https://t.co/KtagHbDOJR">pic.twitter.com/KtagHbDOJR</a>
—@OlympicsCanadian rowers Gabrielle Smith and Jessica Sevick placed sixth in the final. They were the first Canadians to reach a rowing final at the Tokyo Games.
In Tuesday's second semifinal, Smith of Unionville, Ont., and Sevick of Strathmore, Alta., finished in second place with a time of 7:09.44 seconds, just 1.35 seconds behind de Jong and Scheenaard.
WATCH | Canada place 6th in women's double sculls final:
With files from The Associated Press
