Another shot at glory for Ernie

MANILA, Philippines — Ernie Gawilan hopes to make the most out of his last chance at Paralympic glory when he plunges back into action in the 400-meter freestyle S7 race today at the Paris La Defense Arena in the French capital.

The 33-year-old Davao City bet hopes for a better performance than his sixth-place finish in the heats of the 200m individual medley SM7.

And there is a big chance he will as the 400m freestyle is his pet event, having claimed the gold medal twice in the Asian Para Games in 2018 in Jakarta, Indonesia and 2022 in Hangzhou, China.

“Maayos ang pakiramdam ko. Bigay todo na ako dito,” said Gawilan, a Paralympian with underdeveloped extremities since birth.

Gawilan is grouped with Argentina’s Inaki Basiloff, Ukraine’s Andrii Trusov, Cuba’s Yosjaniel Hernandez Velez, and Yurii Shenhur, another Ukrainian.

Basiloff nosed out Trusov for the gold medal in their 200m IM encounter over the weekend.

National swimming coach Tony Ong expected Gawilan to qualify in the 200m IM final but the Phl bet got into trouble in the breaststroke phase and didn’t force the issue.

Should Gawilan get through the heats, the medal race is tomorrow.