Filipino Ernie Gawilan advances to 400m freestyle finals in Paris Paralympics

Ernie Gawilan proved why he's one of Asia's best para swimmers after impressing in the heats round of men's 400m freestyle S7 at the 2024 Paris Paralympics on Monday at the Paris La Defense Arena.

The veteran tanker clocked five minutes and .13 seconds to top Heat 2 and place third overall, earning a berth for the medal round later tonight at 11:30 p.m.

Gawilan was dominant right from the get-go, completing the first 50-meter mark after just 35.47 seconds before closing out the first half of the race within two minutes and 28.85 seconds. The decorated Gawilan never lost the lead since then as he finished off the race 15.90 seconds ahead of the rest of the field.

Evan Austin of USA emerged as the top swimmer with 4:56.54 output while Aleksei Ganiuk of Neutral Paralympic Athletes (NPA) came in second after registering 4:56.68.

Only the top eight swimmers in the nine-man field will advance to the finals.

Gawilan ruled the same event during the 2023 Asian Para Games, where he clocked four minutes and 58.29 seconds. In the 2018 edition, Gawilan made history by becoming the first Filipino para athlete to ever win a gold medal in the Asian Para Games, reigning supreme in the men's 200m individual medley SM7.

The 200m individual medley was also Gawilan's first event in Paris, but he bowed out early after clocking two minutes and 56.39 seconds to wind up last in both Heat 2 and the overall rankings of the 11-man field last Saturday.

—JMB, GMA Integrated News