ERNIE Gawilan finished sixth in the final of the men’s 400m freestyle-S7 in the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games on Sunday afternoon.
The 30-year-old Gawilan checked in at four minutes, 56.24 seconds in his pet event, but his time was not enough to secure a podium finish in the Philippines’ first finals appearance in this edition of the Paralympic Games at the Tokyo Aquatics Center.
Mark Malyar of Israel broke his own world record on his way to the gold with a time of 4:31.06. The old mark was 4:33.64 that he registered in 2019.
Andrii Trusov of Ukraine captured the silver with a time of 4:35.56, while Evan Austin of the United States took the bronze in a close finish with a clocking of 4:38.95, just .04 ahead of Argentina’s Inaki Basiloff.
Gawilan climbed to sixth in the final 150 meters after being at seventh for the most part in the event for swimmers with limited leg function.
Gawilan reached the final after placing sixth among nine competitors during the heats on Sunday morning with a time of 4:58.58.
The Filipino para swimmer will compete in his final event, the men’s 100m backstroke on Monday.
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