Rower Nievarez out of Olympic medal contention

MANILA, Philippines – Cris Nievarez's hopes for an Olympic medal have been dashed after the Filipino rower missed out on the Top 3 finish in the Men's Single Sculls Quarterfinal at the Sea Forest Waterway held Sunday.

Nievarez, who earned an outright berth to the quarterfinals after finishing third in his heat last Friday, clocked 7:50.57 for fifth place. He was a good 34 seconds off of third placer Mindaugas Griskonis of Lithunia.

TRACKER: Cris Nievarez at the Tokyo Olympics

Oliver Zeidler of Germany and Brazil's Luca Verthein Ferreira clinched the first and second places in the quarterfinal, respectively, to complete the three rowers through to the semifinal.

Nievarez won't be going home just yet, though, as he is set to compete in a classification round in semifinal C/D on Monday.

Despite missing out on the podium, the rower out of Quezon still holds the best performance of a Philippine rower in the Olympics after moving on to the quarterfinals.