(Photo taken from Ernie Gawilan’s Facebook account)
MANILA, Philippines—Ernie Gawilan missed out on the finals after finishing ninth overall in the qualifiers of the men’s 200-meter individual medley of the Tokyo Paralympic Games Friday at Tokyo Aquatics Center.
Gawilan finished fifth in Heat 1 with a time of 2:50.49 and had to wait for the results of Heat 1 to see whether or not he would qualify for the finals.
Unfortunately, only the eight fastest swimmers would advance to the medal round and Gawilan was eight seconds slower than eighth placer Pipo Carlomagno of Argentina who clocked in at 2:42.43 in Heat 2.
Mark Malyar of Israel was the fastest swimmer in the qualifiers clocking in at 2:32.86 while Argentina’s Inaki Basiloff came in at second at 2:33.23 with both athletes competing in Heat 1.
Andril Trusov of Ukraine, who also swam in Heat 1, was the third fastest at 2:34.35 with the United States Evan Austin coming in at fourth overall with a time of 2:35.40.
Carlos Daniel Serrano Zarate of Colombia clocked in at 2:36.11 to finish fifth overall while Christian Sadie of South Africa was at sixth with a time of 2:36.75.
Rudy Garcia-Tolson of the United States was at seventh at 2:39.78.
Gawilan will still compete in the men’s 400m freestyle and men’s 100m backstroke on Sunday and Monday.