Ernie Gawilan bows out of Tokyo Paralympics after missing Top 8 cut in backstroke event

Ernie Gawilan fell short of making the final of his last run in the Tokyo Paralympics.
By Ivan Saldajeno

MANILA--Ernie Gawilan's stint in the Tokyo Paralympics came to an end on Monday after failing to qualify for the final of the 100-meter backstroke S7 event at the Tokyo Aquatic Centre.

Gawilan finished last in Heat 2 of the qualifying rounds, clocking in at one minute and 21.6 seconds.

Gawilan was six seconds off the Top 8 with Argentina's Inaki Basiloff punching the last ticket to the final later Monday with a time of 1:15.43.

Gawilan placed 10th overall out of 11 confirmed participants, but he was last among those who actually swam as Christian Sadie of South Africa did not swim in Heat 1.

Another Argentinian, Pipo Carlomagno, headlines the swimmers who will compete for a medal later in the day as he set a new Paralympic record at 1:09.12, eclipsing the 1:09.86 by Great Britain's Jonathan Fox in 2012.

Carlomagno was just 0.2 seconds off the world record set by Ukraine's Bohdan Hrynenko in 2019, but the former has another shot at breaking the WR in the final.

Argentina actually has an outright shot at sweeping the podium as Lucas Poggi also qualified for the final.

The rest of the finalists are Ukrainians Andrii Trusov and Yevhenii Bohodaiko, Russian Andrei Gladkov, Israel's Mark Malyar, and Italy's Federico Bicelli.

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