Ernie Gawilan advances to 400m freestyle finals, Angel Otom promises gold in Paralympics

Ernie Gawilan is set to compete in the men's 400-meter freestyle finals, while Angel Otom gears up for her Paralympic run starting on Sept. 3. 

The 33-year-old Pinoy Paralympian led the Heat 2 of the men's 400m Freestyle S7 which was held on Monday, Sept. 2, and placed third overall with the record of five minutes and .13 seconds.  

Gawilan joins the top eight swimmers who will advance to the medal round happening later at 11:30 p.m. (Manila Time) at the Paris La Defense Arena.  

Leading the overall ranking is USA’s Evan Austin with a 4:56.54 record, followed by Aleksei Ganiuk of Neutral Paralympic Athletes (NPA) with a 4:56.68.

Gawilan, who has underdeveloped limbs, has a personal best of 4:54.24 in the same event during his Paralympic Games debut in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2016. He will become the third Filipino to bring home a Paralympian medal if he makes it to the podium at the event finals.  

This feat is his comeback after finishing his campaign in the men’s 200-meter individual medley SM7 event last weekend. 

Otom, on the other hand, is set to begin her Paralympics campaign on Sept. 3 until Sept. 6. 

In a recent interview, the multi-awarded para swimmer from Olangapo said that she is “very much prepared” for this year’s games, sharing that she has been undergoing intense training with coach Tony Ong since February. 

The 21-year-old para swimmer also said that she will do her best to get her first Paralympic gold.

“I'm going for the gold. If you can dream, why not the gold?” she said, as per the Philippines News Agency report. 

Otom will be competing in lane 5 with Chinese world No. 2 He Shenggao and Liu Yu. 

She would need to secure her spot in the top eight swimmers to advance to the finals on Wednesday, Sept. 4 at 12:34 a.m. (Manila time). 

Otom is currently world No. 5 in the 50-meter backstroke of para swimming. Her personal best is 44.72 seconds.