Jamesray Ajido falls short in YOG 100m butterfly final

Jamesray Ajido missed out on a medal in the YOG despite a solid swim in the 100-meter butterfly final. POC Media Pool
By Dugout Philippines

DAKAR—Jamesray Mishael Ajido had the skills but not the body length and finished fifth in the men’s 100 meters butterfly of swimming in the 4th Youth Olympic Games on Sunday.

Pitted against opponents who’re a head or more taller, Ajido clocked 55.16 seconds to better his time in the morning qualifiers where he placed seventh almost two seconds, but it wasn’t enough for the bemedalled Asian juniors swimmer to break the podium here.

Egypt’s Zain Ali looked even more formidable in the final and erased his heats best time of 53.96-second performance with 52.16 at the Complexe Tour de l’Ceuf pool.

The Egyptian had enough to spare as Serbia’s Aleksej Kalanj was 1.87 seconds behind and Slovakia’s Marias Kristof was .05 second further back for the bronze medal.

India’s Tirthank Pegun was fourth at 54.98.

A dejected Ajido—the only Southeast Asian in the final—passed the Mixed Zone protocol. He still has the 50 meters freestyle and butterfly on Tuesday.

Riannah Chantelle Coleman, meanwhile, swims in the second of two heats in women’s 200 meters breastroke set at 11:02 a.m. (Senegal time) on Monday.

The nine-athlete Team Philippines in the YOG is supported by the Philippine Sports Commission.