Filipino para swimmer Ernie Gawilan. | Photo from Gawilan’s Facebook account.
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Filipino para swimmer Ernie Gawilan settled for sixth place in the finals of the men’s 400-meter freestyle S7 event of the ongoing World Paralympic Games at the Tokyo Aquatic Center in Tokyo, Japan on Sunday, August 29.
Gawilan, who was trailing behind for the most part, made his move at the halfway mark and went full throttle in the seventh lap to salvage the sixth overall place at two minutes and 27.34 seconds.
Israeli Mark Malyar won the gold medal at 2:11.83 while Ukraine’s Andrii Trusov bagged the silver medal at 2:16.23 and Evan Austin of the USA earned the bronze medal at 2:18.18.
Despite placing sixth, Gawilan made a milestone for himself as the first Filipino para swimmer to reach the finals of this quadrennial sporting spectacle featuring the world’s best para athletes.
“Intense! Hahaha. Finally, Ernie is the first para (Filipino) swimmer to get into the finals. So happy naman kami with the outcome” noted coach Tony Ong of a feat of the Davao City pride.
“Intense! Hahaha. Finally, Ernie is the first para (Filipino) swimmer to get into the finals. So we are happy with the outcome.)
Gawilan was born without the lower part of both his legs and an underdeveloped left arm. However, he overcame adversities in life and became a bemedalled swimmer.
He is a triple gold medalist in the 2018 Asian Paralympic Games in Jakarta, Indonesia and a back-to-back gold medalist in the 2015 Singapore and 2017 Malaysia editions of the ASEAN Para Games.
He is also a 2016 Paralympic Games veteran in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Set to compete at 8:42 p.m. (7:42 p.m. in Manila) later are wheelchair racer and Rio Paralympic veteran Jerrold Mangliwan in the men’s 1,500-meter-T52 finals.
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