By MARK REY MONTEJO
Para swimmer Ernie Gawilan advanced to the final round of the men’s 400m-S7 event after topping his heat, a feat that lifted the country’s spirit for a first-ever podium finish in the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games at La Defense Arena Monday, Sept. 2.
Gawilan, 33, topped Heat 2 of the said class after clocking 5:00.13 to secure his spot in the finals and ended up third overall in the nine-man tournament.
His qualification boosted the Philippines’ morale after botched bids in taekwondo and archery.
American Evan Austin was the fastest in the preliminaries as he timed 4:56.54 while Neutral Paralympic Athletes’ Aleksei Ganiuk was second in 4:56.68.
Italy’s Federico Bicelli (5:06.51) and China’s Xianquan Huang ended up fourth and fifth places, respectively.
Ukraine’s Andrii Trusov (5:16.03) and Yurri Shenhur (5:19.46) and Argentina’s Inaki Basiloff (5:17.33) also made it to the final round slated later tonight at the same venue.
In his first attempt for Olympic glory, Gawilan, finished dead last in men’s 200m IM-SM7 heat and settled for sixth place overall.
