Swimming athletes Ahmed Durrani and Jehanara Nabi from Pakistan had a disappointing Olympic debut, placing last and 26th overall in their 200-meter freestyle heats on Sunday at the 2024 Games in France.
With splits of 26.62, 29.21, 31.06, and 31.78, national record holder Durrani finished fourth in his heat and last overall with a time of 1:58.67.
It was a long cry from his effort at the Malaysian Age Group Championships in April, when he shattered the national record with a swim of 1:55.68 over times of 27.15, 29.33, 29.94, and 29.26.
Nabi, the women’s competitor, finished third in her heat and 26th overall with a time of 2:10.69.
At the Thailand Age Group Swimming Championships in April, she established a personal best and a national record of 2:08.57, however she was more nearly two seconds slower than that time.
Nabi’s splits of 29.80, 32.49, 33.80, and 34.60 placed her ahead of swimmers from Saudi Arabia, Nepal, the United Arab Emirates, and Albania.
Along with sprinter Faiqa Riaz, Durrani and Nabi are three of Pakistan’s Olympic wild card entrants. Countries whose athletes would not otherwise be able to qualify for the event are given wild card entries.
Apart from Matthew Abeysinghe of Sri Lanka, who qualified for the Rio 2016 Olympics in the 100m freestyle, and Sajan Prakash of India, who qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in the 200m Butterfly, all South Asian swimmers at the Olympics have competed as wild card entries.
In addition, India’s wild card swimmers competed in their first Olympic event on Sunday. In the 100m backstroke, two-time Olympian Srihari Nataraj swam a 55.01, finishing ahead of Nabi at the age of 14.
Both Indian swimmers are national record holders in their respective events, however they were unable to set a personal best in Paris, much like their Pakistani counterparts.
Nabi and Durrani did not make it past the heats, so they will watch the semi-finals from the stands tonight.
With a time of 1:45.65, Romania’s David Popovici holds the world junior record in the men’s event. Danys Rapsis of Lithuania comes in second with a time of 1:45.91, while Lucas Henveaux of Belgium comes in third with a time of 1:46.04.
Mollie O’Callaghan of Australia is the top seed in the women’s semi-final with a time of 1:55.79. After losing to Mary-Sophie Harvey of Canada with a time of 1:56.21, her fellow countrywoman Ariarne Titmus enters the semifinals as the third seed with a time of 1:56.23.
Titmus won the 400m Freestyle championship again in Paris, taking home Australia’s first gold medal in the process with a time of 3:57.49, better than both USA’s Katie Ledecky and Canada’s Summer McIntosh.
