Ernie Gawilan (left) shares an idle moment with fellow Para swimmer Gary Bejino at Tokyo Aquatics Center. —PHILIPPINE
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MANILA, Philippines—Ernie Gawilan qualified for the finals of the men’s 400-meters freestyle S7 after finishing sixth overall among nine competitors in the Tokyo Paralympic Games Sunday at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre.
The Filipino bet clocked in at 4:58.58 for the fourth spot in Heat 2.
This was Gawilan’s second event in the Paralympic Games and his first wherein he qualified for the medal round after he failed to advance to the finals of the men’s 200m individual medley S7 on Friday.
World record holder Mark Malyar of Israel finished first in the preliminaries with a time of 4:41.82 in Heat 2 setting a new Paralympic record beating the previous time of 4:42.81 that Josef Craig of Great Britain set in 2012 in London.
Italy’s Federico Bicelli finished second overall, clocking in at 4:45.53 while Argentina’s Inaki Basiloff was at third across the preliminaries with a time of 4:46.17 with both swimmers taking the pool in Heat 2.
Ukraine’s Andril Trusov was at fourth overall as he clocked in at 4:57.23 in Heat 1 while the United State’s Evan Austin came in at close fifth with a time of 4:57.35 in the same preliminary round.
Singapore’s Toh Wei Soong clocked in at 5:03.82 in Heat 1 to finish seventh overall with Taiwan’s Chen Liang-da completing the finalists as he placed eighth with a time of 5:15.89 in Heat 2.