DAVAO City's Ernie Gawilan, the only Filipino tanker in the five-athlete Team Philippines, succumbed to pressure to finish 10th overall in the men's 400-meter freestyle-S8 in his first-ever appearance in the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games swimming competition at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium.
The 25-year-old Asian Paragames triple bronze medalist from Sasa said, "Mao unta ang naay chance nako mag-final kaso kalit lang ug collapse akong stroke. Medyo disappointed jud kay wala man lang nako nakuha akong best time, pero ana man jud dili man jud atoa tanang oras (The 400m freestyle was my strongest chance to make it to the finals but my stroke collapsed. I'm somehow disappointed as I haven't met my personal best time but that's how it is)."
He recalled losing steam after the 300 meters and just could not push himself to go faster.
Gawilan clocked four minutes and 54.24 seconds, far from his own best record of 4:48.
Great Britain's Oliver Hynd, who topped the preliminary round, ended up with the gold medal and a new world record after checking in at 4:21.89.
He raced past Chinese bets Haijiao Xu (4:25.65) and Yinan Wang (4:32.78) who got the silver and bronze, respectively.
The Dabawenyo swimmer will next see action in men's 100m freestyle Sunday, Brazil time, and in men's 100m backstroke Tuesday, Brazil time.
Gawilan, on his remaining two events, said, "Mamasin lang gihapon ko, mag-focus lang gihapon ko bisag lisod pero kailangan tistingan gihapon (I'll do my best and focus even if it's going to be difficult)."
He claimed needing more time to train to overcome the pressure of competing in a high-level competition such as the Paralympics.
Over at the Riocentro Pavilion 3, Philippines' Josephine Medina bowed to Chinese Jingdian, 3-11, 4-11, 6-11, in the group B of the women's singles Class 8. Medina will next face Norway's Aida Husic Dahlen.
