PARIS: Despite winning the first heat in the women’s 100 metre (m) breaststroke event, national swimmer Tan Rouxin’s effort was not good enough to finish among the top 16 to enter the semi-finals of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games aquatic competition here, today.
Competing at the Paris La Defense Arena, Rouxin clocked one minute and 12.50 seconds (s) to finish ahead of Moroccan Imane Houda El Barodi, who came in second with 1:14.57s while Ellie Shaw of Antigua and Barbuda finished third with a time of 1:14.78s.
The 18-year-old debutant finished 33rd overall while Tatjana Smith of South Africa, who won the fourth heat, topped the chart with a time of 1:05.00s.
The time recorded by Rouxin was miles off the national record held by Phee Jinq En (1:08.40s) set in Tokyo 2020.
Today’s result saw none of the Malaysian swimmers get past the first hurdle since another national swimming ace Khiew Hoe Yean fell short in the second heat of the men’s 400m freestyle, Saturday.
Estonia’s Kregor Zirk dominated the heat with a time of 3:49.59s, while Chile’s Eduardo Cisternas clocked in at 3:51.29s for second place and Uzbekistan’s Ilya Sibirtsev captured third spot with a 3:51.52s finish.
Despite his commendable effort, Hoe Yean’s time didn’t secure him a spot among the top eight swimmers to advance to the final.
