PARIS – Para wheelchair racer Jerrold Mangliwan’s heat struggles apparently spilled over into the finals Friday night (Saturday morning in Manila), finishing eighth and last in the men’s 400-meter T52 race in a sub-par time of one minute and .04.55 seconds in the 17th Paris Paralympic Games at the packed Stade de France here.
After placing seventh out of eight qualifiers with an underwhelming time of 1:05.79 in rainy conditions in the heats, Mangliwan got off to a sluggish start anew and improved just slightly in timing 1:04.55 in the race handily won by reigning Belgian world champion Maxime Carabine in 55.10 seconds.
The charismatic Carabine easily relegated Tokyo Olympic gold medalist Sato Tomoki to silver (56.26) while compatriot Ito Tomoya took the bronze (1:01.08) in front of an animated crowd at the 75,000-seat arena.
At the Les Invalides shooting range, para archer Bantiloc bowed out of contention, losing to Brazil’s Jane Karla Gogel 143-127 (25-29, 28-29, 24-29, 27-29, 23-27) in the opening knockout round of the women’s individual compound event in the stint backed by the Philippine Sports Commission.
“Hindi namin maintindihan yung super bagal niya sa first 150 meters. Dun lang sa last 250 meters bumawi at muntik na niyang naabutan yung nag-seventh place,” noted national para athletic head coach Joel Deriada over the lacklustre takeoff of the athlete.
“Si Joel na rin ang nag-sabi sa amin na parang mabigat yung umpisa niya. He offered no excuses,” Deriada added. “Alam niya na may maibbubuga pa siya pero hindi nangyari yun.
“Kasi sa practice nakapag-clock na siya ng 1:02 and 1:03 so talagang naging mabagal ang naging performance niya ngayon.”
The gold medalist in the same event in last year’s Hangzhou Asian Para Games, Mangliwan has a personal best time of 1:01.35.
If there was any consolation, Deriada said, was the fact that the athlete still finished in the finals, unlike three years ago in the Tokyo edition when he was disqualified in the same race for crossing the wrong lane close to the finish line.
Mangliwan still has one event left in the men’s 100-meter T52 race, whose heats will be held on Sept. 5 and the finals the following day.
