Nigeria’s Tobi Sijuade participated in swimming – 50m Freestyle – Heat 5 this morning at the ongoing #Paris2024. He came 3rd.
— alashock (@alashock) August 1, 2024
There were 10 heats in all, the 16 fastest from the heats qualify to the semifinals. Remainder are eliminated. pic.twitter.com/QRFnKM9SR4
Kyle Micallef came agonizingly close to setting a new national record in the 50 meters freestyle heats at the Paris Olympics on Thursday.
The Maltese swimmer lined up in the fifth heat and was off to a storming start. Micallef touched home in second place with a time of 22.89 seconds, just 0.09 seconds shy of his national record set in Belgrade this past June.
Fiji’s David Young won the race with a time of 22.71 seconds, while Nigeria’s Tobi Sijuade finished behind Micallef in 23.34 seconds. Russian swimmer Evgenii Somov, competing under a neutral flag, placed fourth with a time of 23.43 seconds.
The other swimmers in the race were St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ Alex Joachim (23.59), Syria’s Alaa Maso (23.90), Zambia’s Damien Shamamba (24.09), and Malawi’s Filipe Gomes (24.11).
Despite his strong performance, Micallef did not advance to the semi-finals of the 50m freestyle heats he finished 41st out of 74 with one swimmer did not complete so in actual terms 41 out of 73, thus concluding his experience at the Paris Olympics on Thursday. He will not stay for the closing ceremony and will return to the states where is is based in the next days
