Olympic debutant Yoana Georgieva secured a place in the quarterfinals today after finishing 3rd in her heat of the 500m single kayak event.

Georgieva, the women's under-23 world runner-up at Auronzo 2023, clocked a time of 1:55.76 in her heat. Despite this strong performance, she did not qualify directly for the August 10 semi-finals, which were reserved for the top two finishers.

Aimee Fisher from New Zealand and Brenda Rojas from Argentina secured the direct spots to the semi-finals. Fisher led the race from start to finish, posting a time of 1:49.16, while Rojas finished second with a time of 1:52.68.

Georgieva, who recently turned 22 and hails from Vidin, Bulgaria, was in fourth place midway through the race, trailing Rojas by just 0.4 seconds. However, she was unable to close the gap, eventually finishing over 3 seconds behind the Argentinian.

Consequently, Georgieva will compete in the quarterfinals later today, with races scheduled to start after 2:30 p.m.