Luke Gebbie came from behind, but could not finish in a qualifying position in the preliminary heats of the men’s 100-meter freestyle at the Tokyo Aquatics Center, Tuesday.
The 24-year-old upstart still set a new Philippine record in the said event with a time of 49.64 seconds. He shaved 0.30 seconds from his own mark set at the World Championships.
In a heat that included fellow Southeast Asian and butterfly Olympic champion Joseph Schooling, the Melbourne-based swimmer took it slowly in the first 50-meter. He then landed in seventh with 23.87 at the turn.
Gebbie then picked off his pace after the turn and looked to make up some ground.
However, the leaders, headed by eventual heat winner in Croatian Nikola Miljenic, were too far behind.
Gebbie, nonetheless, was able to go from seventh to fifth and finished 0.39 seconds from Miljenic — ahead of three others, including Schooling, who touched the pad after him in sixth.
The effort also saw him finish in 36th place, right in the middle of the pack.
The 2019 Southeast Asian Games multi-medalist will still have one last event for the Games — the 50-meter freestyle — set on Friday.
