Nigeria’s lone rower at the Rio 2016 Olympics, Chierika Ukogu progressed to the quarterfinals as one of the automatic qualifiers in her event after finishing 3rd in Heat 5 of the women’s Single Sculls on Saturday, August 6.
The event was held at the Lagoa Stadium, as the rowers competed in six heats, with the Top 3 qualifiers in each heat making it to the next round of the competition. Ukogu clocked a time of 8.35.34 to finish behind Austria’s Magdalena Lobnig (8:26.83) and Miroslava Knapková of the Czech Republic (8:28.90).
The 23-year old, who is making history as the first ever Nigerian to qualify for the Rowing event at the Olympics, placed 15th in the overall standings comprising of 32 rowers. The quarterfinals come up on Tuesday, August 9 from 1.10pm.
