Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 20) – Top Filipino para-swimmer Ernie Gawilan bagged on Sunday the bronze medal in the S7 400-meter freestyle event of the World Para Swimming World Series held in Berlin, Germany.
Gawilan clocked in 5 minutes and 3.74 seconds to finish in third place behind gold medalist Inaki Basiloff of Argentina who had a time of 4 minutes and 41.96 seconds and runner-up Mark Malyar of Israel with 4 minutes and 42.77 seconds.
Philippine para-swimming head coach Tony Ong told CNN Philippines the bronze medal finish of Gawilan is a good showing since it was his first competition since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ong, however, pointed out that the time of Gawilan in the Berlin swimming meet was far from the performance they were expecting for the Davao native.
“The instruction of Coach Ral Rosario (Philippine para-swimming team coach) is when we get back to the water, we must go and push the distance. We really need to train more on our distance when we get back to Manila,” said Ong.
Meanwhile, the three other Filipino para-swimmers failed to get a podium finish in the Berlin swimming competition.
Gary Bejino, Roland Sabido, and Arnel Aba were the other Filipino para-swimmers who competed in Berlin. They need to wait until June 30 if their times are enough for a continental or bipartite slot in the Tokyo Paralympics.
Gawilan formalized his Tokyo Paralympics stint last June 18 in Berlin when he completed his review classification race in the 100-meter breaststroke, finishing fifth in his heat with 1 minute and 44.89 seconds.
The 30-year-old Gawilan is expected to compete in the 400-meter freestyle, 100-meter backstroke, and 200-meter individual medley events in Tokyo.
