Filipino swimmers Luke Gebbie and Remedy Rule impressed their home country in the waters of the Tokyo Aquatics Center on July 27 in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Gebbie waded into the pool first as he competed against the worlds’ best in the Men’s 100-meter freestyle, where he attained a time of 49.64 seconds. His performance bested the previous Philippine 100-meter freestyle record set by himself back in the 2019 FINA World Championships—an equally impressive 49.94 second exhibition.
Despite Gebbie’s record-setting performance for the Philippines, the time was only good for fifth place in his heat. He finished just slightly ahead of Singapore’s Joseph Schooling who clocked in at 49.84 seconds, but the Filipino fell just as equally behind Venezuela’s push of 49.44 seconds earned by Alberto Mestre.
As for the overall ranking of the 100-meter freestyle, Gebbie’s lap was only good for 36th place out of the 70 total Olympians that participated. This rank knocked him out of contention for the semifinals.
In the 200-meter women’s butterfly, Remedy Rule looked to avenge her lost bid for a podium finish in the 100-meter butterfly.
Rule finished the 200-meter race with a time of 2 minutes and 12.33 seconds, which was only good for last place in a stacked heat that featured tournament favorite Zhang Yufei from China. Both Zhang and Boglarka Kapas from Hungary led the heat with times of 2:07.50 and 2:08.58 respectively.
Despite her last place finish in the heat, Rule was still able to qualify for the semifinals of the 200-meter butterfly given that her time placed her at 15th place in the overall event. Only the top 16 swimmers are taken for the semifinals berth.
Rule’s semifinals lap told the same story for the Filipino Olympian as she once again placed last in her heat and 15th in the overall event with a time of 2:12.89. Zhang and Kapas again topped the heat with times of 2:04.89 and 2:06.59, respectively. With only eight of the 16 swimmers qualifying for the next round, Rule was knocked out of contention for an Olympic medal.
With Rule’s Olympic stint at an end, Gebbie will continue to compete in the waters of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Putting his loss in the 100 meter freestyle behind him, Gebbie looks towards the 50-meter freestyle event to be held this Friday, July 30 at 6:10 PM Manila time.
Men’s 100 Meter Freestyle Heat 5 Results:
Nikola Miljenic (Croatia) – 49.25s
Ali Khalafalla (Egypt) – 49.31s
Mikel Schreuders (Aruba) – 49.31s
Alberto Mestre (Venezuela) – 49.44s
Luke Gebbie (Philippines) – 49.64s
Joseph Schooling (Singapore) – 49.84s
Benjamin Hockin (Paraguay) – 50.41s
Emir Muratovic (Bosnia-Herzegovina) – 50.43s
Women’s 200 Meter Butterfly Heat 3 Results:
Yufei Zhang (China) – 2:07.50s
Boglarka Kapas (Hungary) – 2:08.58s
Laura Stephens (Great Britain) – 2:09.00s
Franziska Hentke (Germany) – 2:09.98s
Ana Monteiro (Portugal) – 2:11.45s
Remedy Rule (Philippines) – 2:12.23s
Women’s 200 Meter Butterfly Semifinals 2 Results:
Yufei Zhang (China) – 2:04.89
Boglarka Kapas (Hungary) – 2:06.59
Liyan Yu (China) – 2:07.04
Brianna Throssell (Australia) – 2:08.41
Suzuka Hazesagawa (Japan) – 2:08.42
Laura Stephens (Great Britain) – 2:09.49
Franziska Hentke (Germany) – 2:10.89
Remedy Rule (Philippines) – 2:12.89
