Wind disrupts Asia and Oceania Olympic and Paralympic Qualification regatta

The first day of racing at the Sea Forest Waterway in Tokyo, Japan, had to be cancelled due to strong winds at what will be the regatta course for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Although Tuesday was a very good day of training, with calm conditions, the strong wind caused the organisers to cancel Wednesday’s racing. The course was also closed to training for the whole day. Crews were able to use the ergometers and do other land training.

The forecast for Thursday, 6 May is significantly better and the organisers are hoping to get a good day of racing in with all the heats and all the repechages. With the reasonable weather forecast for Thursday, the outlook for Friday is also reasonably good. There might be some wind challenges around lunchtime but racing should take place in reasonable and fair conditions.

The rescheduling down to two days instead of three has meant that the semi-finals A/B of the men’s and women’s single sculls will be held on Friday morning, the same day as the finals. Previously they had been scheduled separately on the second day.

At the Olympic and Paralympic qualification, the B finals are just as important as the A finals, particularly because, according to the qualification systems, each Member Federation is only entitled to 1 qualifying place for the Olympics and one for the Paralympics.

The Asia and Oceania Olympic and Paralympic Qualification regatta has been very helpful as a further test of the Sea Forest venue before the Olympics and Paralympics and will be used to ensure successful Games ahead.