COMING BACK from a loss in the Men’s 200m medley SM7, Filipino paralympic swimmer Ernie Gawilan advanced to the finals of the Men’s 400m freestyle S7 event on August 29 in the Tokyo Aquatics Centre. Gawilan clocked in with an official time of 4:58.58 which secured him a sixth-placed finish overall.

Only eight out of the nine contenders progressed to the medal contention. Israel’s Mark Malyar placed first overall and finished with a time of 4:41.82, while Italy’s Federico Bicelli finished second behind Malyar with a time of 4:45.53. Argentina’s Inaki Basiloff rounded out the top three with his time of 4:46:17 just a few seconds behind Bicelli.

Medal contention

Moving forward to the finals, the Davao-based Gawilan finished sixth out of the eight contenders with an official time of 4:56.24. Despite finishing two minutes and 34 seconds faster than his qualifying swim time, Gawilan was unable to snatch a medal for the Philippines.

Israel’s Mark Malyar topped the event and set a new world record time of 4:31.06. Ukraine’s Andrii Trusov secured the silver medal after clocking in at 4:35.56, while USA’s Evan Austin grabbed the bronze medal with a time of 4:38.95.

Men’s 100m backstroke 

In his last event for his Paralympic campaign, Ernie Gawilan failed to advance in the finals of the men’s 100m backstroke S7 competition held Monday morning in the Tokyo Aquatics Centre. Gawilan, who ranked tenth overall in his heat, finished with an official time of 1:21.60; not enough to secure him a spot for the medal contention.

Argentina’s Pipo Carlomagno surpassed all contenders and concluded with a time of 1:09.12. Ukraine’s Andrii Trusov, the silver medalist of the men’s 400m freestyle S7 event, finished behind Carlomagno at 1:10.20. Russian Paralympic Committee’s Andrei Gladkov, who finished 0.64 seconds after Trusov at 1:10.84, completed the event third overall.

The men’s 100m backstroke S7 was the final event for the 2018 Asian Games gold medalist. Gawilan is also tapped as the country’s flagbearer for the closing ceremony that is scheduled on September 5, Sunday.

Bejino bows out of men’s 50m butterfly

In the second event of his Paralympic stint, Filipino swimmer Gary Bejino fell short of reaching the Men’s 50m butterfly S6 finals as he finished 14th overall in the preliminaries. Bejino established a time of 36.14 in the event held earlier today at the Tokyo Aquatics Center. 

The Filipino Paralympian concluded Heat 1 in seventh place, nearly five seconds behind the heat’s best time of 31.66 from Columbia’s Nelson Crispin Corzo. While Bejino settles for a humble 14th place, the top eight contenders will proceed to the Men’s 50m butterfly S6 finals. Leading the pack entering the medal race is China’s Jingang Wang with a time of 30.81, followed by Columbia’s Crispin Corzo in second at 31.66, and China’s Hongguang in third at 32.16. 

Bejino still has a chance to snag a Paralympic medal when he competes in the Men’s 400m freestyle S6 event on Thursday, September 2, at 8:00 AM Manila time.