PARIS – Veteran para swimmer Ernie Gawilan led from start to finish in topping the second heat in a time of five minutes and .13 seconds to easily sail through the finals of the men’s 400-meter freestyle S7 event of the 17th Paralympic Games swimming meet at the La Defense Arena here Monday.

As tropical storm Enteng lashed through Luzon, Gawilan stormed through the heat to finish third overall among the eight qualifiers behind American topnotcher Austin Evan (4:56.48), who came from behind to relegate Neutral Paralympic Athlete Alekseei Ganiuk to runner-up honors (4:56.68) in heat 1.

“Hindi ko po ibinuhos lahat, mga 90 percent lang para maganda ‘yung makuha ng magandang lane sa finals,” said the swimmer in making his second straight finals in the event at 5:30 p.m. (11:30 p.m. in Manila) where he finished sixth in the Tokyo edition in 2021.

“Mas kondisyon po ako ngayon, Kailangan maghanda mamaya sa finals,” added 33-year-old Davao City native, who has a personal best of 4:54.24 in the event when he made his Paralympic Games debut in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2016.

Born with underdeveloped extremities, sporting one normal arm and having no legs, Gawilan could not help but notice the difference between himself and his opponents in third straight stint in the sportsfest supported by the Philippine Sports Commission.

“Parang ako lang ‘yung may kapansanan,” quipped the athlete with a smile at the post-swimming interview before heading to the locker room.

His performance was a great comeback after bowing out early in the men’s 200-meter individual medley SM7 event over the weekend.

Gawilan was the fastest from the get-go, completing the first 50 meters in 35.47 seconds, slowed down slightly at the halfway point, before gaining his second wind to finish strongly and way ahead of the pack.

He said, fact that he won the heat and qualifying third to the finals was fine but acknowledged “the others were also pacing themselves kaya hindi dapat maging overconfident. Bahala na po at ibubuhos ko na lang lahat talaga mamaya.”