Luke Gebbie beats Joseph Schooling in 100-meter freestyle heats, sets new PH record

Luke Gebbie set a new Philippine record while putting Southeast Asia on notice too. Philippine Swimming (file photo)

By Ivan Saldajeno

MANILA--Luke Gebbie missed out on making the semifinals of the Tokyo Olympics men's 100-meter freestyle swimming contest after finishing the qualifying heats on Tuesday night at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre way outside of the Final 16 cutoff.

Gebbie, who competed in Heat 5, clocked in at 49.64 seconds, good for 36th out of a whopping 71 contenders.

However, he was 1.2 seconds off 16th placed Jacob Whittle of Great Britain.

Despite the early elimination, Gebbie still had reasons to smile.

For one, his time was quicker than that of Rio Olympics overnight sensation Joseph Schooling.

The Singaporean tanker, who made waves five years ago by beating Olympic legend Michael Phelps for the 100-meter butterfly gold, finished at 49.84 seconds, 0.2 second behind Gebbie and good for 39th overall.

Schooling also swam in Heat 5.

Another reason is that Gebbie set the new Philippine record for the 100-meter freestyle.

Gebbie will return to action on Friday night for the 50-meter freestyle heats.

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