Gawilan earned the sixth spot out of eight swimmers who advanced to the medal race, tallying at 4:56.24.

The 2018 Asian gold medalist clocked in faster against Singapore’s Wei Soong Toh and Taipei’s Liang-da Chen with a time of 5:06:39 and 5:10:65, respectively.

While Mark Malyar of Israel bagged the gold medal as he set a new world record at 4:31.06. Coming in second was Ukraine’s Andil Trusov who finished at 4:35.56, then followed by America’s Evan Austin at 4:38.95.

Despite placing sixth, the 30-year-old Gawilan made history as he is the first-ever Filipino para swimmer to reach the finals of the quadrennial meet.

Nevertheless, Gawilan still has a chance to bring a medal as his next race is today in 100m backstroke.