RIO DE JANEIRO – Palau’s first female canoe sprinter advanced to the semi-finals in her first Olympic games.
Marina Toribiong was sixth place in her heat with a time of 48.913 in the women’s kayak single 200 metre race on August 15 at the Rio de Janeiro Summer Olympic Games. And in the kayak event, the top six finishers advance to the semi-finals.
In the semi-finals, she competed against world champion and Olympic gold medalist Lisa Carrington, from New Zealand. Toribiong finished in last place, with a time of 48.306.
“I feel pretty good. I’m really proud of myself,” she said.
The 22-year-old also set a personal best time.
For someone who just seriously started competing in the sport for about two years, she’s done well against women whohave been doing it for a long time. Toribiong has another race today, Rio time, in the 500-meter race.
“I’m pretty confident that I’m going to bust it out and do my best,”she said.
Toribiong started out in an outrigger canoe, which is very different from the kayak she competed in as there’s nothing to balance the canoe out in the water, like the ama on an outrigger canoe. She had to learn how to use her core to balance herself in the water, which she said she still has trouble doing.
Toribiong trained at home in Nikko Bay, a stunning lagoon in Palau. She said it’s hard for her to train at home because she’s the only one in the sport and she don’t have a coach. It’s also hard because there isn’t any equipment ?? the canoe she uses was shipped from San Diego to Palau.
She said at times it took a lot of willpower to get up and train every day, but said knowing she had the opportunity to represent Palau at the Olympics is what pushed her.
Toribiong said she hoped she could help develop the sport in Palau.
“I just want to share it with anyone that wants to try it,” she said.
She thanked the people in Palau for all their support and love. She also thanked her teammates, who cheered her on in her race. Toribiong said she could hear them yell and saw the Palauan flag, which pumped her up for the race.
Toribiong hopes to qualify on merit for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
“I really want to get to the level to keep up with the competition,” she said.
