Ernie Gawilan finishes 6th in 400m freestyle finals
FILIPINO para-swimmer Ernie Gawilan finished at sixth place in the finals of the men’s 400-meter freestyle-S7 event of the Paralympic Games at the Tokyo Aquatic Centre on Sunday.
Mr. Gawilan, 30, who is lacking both legs and has an underdeveloped left limb, clocked 4:56.24 in the medal race, 25.18 seconds behind gold medal winner Mark Malyar (4:31.06) of Israel. Mr. Malyar’s time was a new world record.
Coming in second was Andil Trusov of Ukraine at 4:35.56, followed by American Evan Austin at 4:38.95.
The Philippine bet earned a spot in the finals by placing sixth overall in the heats earlier in the day, with a time of four minutes and 58.58 seconds. Only the top eight swimmers in the heats advanced to the medal race.
Mr. Gawilan plays his final event — 100m backstroke S7 — on Monday.
Also set to see action later on Sunday was wheelchair racer Jerrold Mangliwan, competing in the finals of the men’s 1,500-meter-T52 race at 7:42 p.m. (Manila time) at the Japan National Stadium.
ANOTHER FILIPINO PARA-ATHLETE OUT
Meanwhile, para-discus thrower Jeanette Aceveda is out of the Paralympics as she and her coach, Bernard Buen, tested positive for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) after undergoing the mandatory daily saliva antigen test at the Athletes Village.
The unfortunate development was shared by Philippine Paralympic Committee President Michael I. Barredo in an official statement on Sunday.
In compliance with health and safety guidelines under the Paralympic Playbook, Ms. Aceveda and Mr. Buen were already brought to an outside quarantine facility in Tokyo.
Ms. Aceveda was supposed to compete in the women’s discus throw F11 finals on Aug. 31.
She was the second Filipino para-athlete to test positive for COVID-19 and failed to compete in her event after para-powerlifter Achelle Guion, who was found positive prior to Team Philippines’ departure for the Games and never made the trip. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo
