Joanie Delgaco, Kristine Paraon defy own expectations en route to SEA Games rowing gold

RAYONG, Thailand – As the old adage says, good things come when you least expect them.

That proved to be true for rowers Joanie Delgaco and Kristine Paraon as they captured the Philippines’ 26th gold medal in the 2025 Southeast Asian Games by ruling the women’s double sculls at the Royal Thai Navy Rowing and Canoeing Training Centre here on Tuesday, December 16.

From third in the preliminary, the Filipina tandem saved the best for last, topping the final with a time of 8 minutes and 16.976 seconds to beat out local bets Sukkaew Rawiwan and Chaempudsa Parisa, who were over four seconds slow at 8:21.634.

Vietnam’s Nguyen Thi Van Anh and Pham Thi Bich Ngoc took the bronze with 8:26.447.

“The night before, we were thinking that even winning bronze would be difficult. But I told myself before I slept that nothing is impossible with the Lord,” said Delgaco in Filipino.

Delgaco is no stranger to winning gold in the SEA Games as she triumphed in the women’s lightweight double sculls together with Melcah Jen Caballero in the 2019 Philippines edition.

She has also proven her mettle as the first Filipino rower to qualify for the Olympics, ending the 2024 Paris Games as the highest-placed Southeast Asian in the women’s single sculls.

But Delgaco had doubts in her ability to get the job done after being away from the sport for a huge chunk of the past year as she took a break after the Olympics and enlisted for military training in the Philippine Navy, only returning to action in the Asian Rowing Championships in Vietnam in October. 

It helped that Delgaco had someone to lean on to in Paraon. 

“I just trusted myself and my partner. I’m also thankful that my family was there at the finish line. That was inspiration from the start of the race until the end,” said Delgaco, whose father Bernardo also flew to Thailand to witness her triumph.

Delgaco and Paraon got off a promising start as they gained a one-second lead over the Thais after the first 500m and never relinquished the upper hand the rest of the way. 

“We were not expecting this gold because our opponents are also strong. But we trusted in each other and we knew how hard we worked in training,” said Paraon. “I’m also grateful that ate Jo is my lead. She is one of my inspirations.” 

The Philippines produced two rowing medals on Tuesday, the other one coming from another Olympian in Cris Nievarez, who clinched the bronze in the men’s single sculls.

Nievarez, the lone Filipino rower in the Tokyo Games in 2021, registered 8:22.121 to finish behind Indonesia’s Memo (8:10.247) and Thailand’s Wattananusith Premanut (8:15.827). – Rappler.com