Pakistan swimmers Ahmed Durrani and Jehanara Nabi disappointed on their Olympics debut, finishing last and 26th overall respectively in their 200-metre freestyle heats at the 2024 Games in France on Sunday.
National record holder Durrani clocked a 1:58.67 to finish fourth in his heat and last overall, splitting 26.62, 29.21, 31.06 and 31.78.
It was a far cry from his performance in April when he broke the national record with a 1:55.68 swim over 27.15, 29.33, 29.94 and 29.26 at the Malaysian Age Group Championships.
Over on the women’s side, Nabi clocked a 2:10.69 to finish third in her heat and 26th overall.
She was more than two seconds slower from her personal best and national record of 2:08.57 set at the Thailand Age Group Swimming Championships in April.
Nabi finished ahead of swimmers from Albania, UAE, Saudi Arabia and Nepal with splits of 29.80, 32.49, 33.80 and 34.60.
Durrani and Nabi are among three wild card entrants in the Pakistan Olympic contingent alongside sprinter Faiqa Riaz. Wild card entries are awarded to countries whose athletes otherwise fail to qualify for the event.
Every South Asian swimmer at the Olympics has competed as a wild card entry, with the exception of Sri Lanka’s Matthew Abeysinghe, who made the Olympic ‘B’ cut for the Rio 2016 Olympics in the 100m freestyle, and India’s Sajan Prakash, who made the Olympic ‘A’ cut for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in the 200m Butterfly.
India’s wild card swimmers also had their lone Olympic event on Sunday, with 14-year-old Dhinidhi Desinghu finishing ahead of Nabi with a 2:06.96, while two-time Olympian Srihari Nataraj swam a 55.01 in the 100m Backstroke.
Like their Pakistani counterparts, both Indian swimmers are national record holders in their respective events but failed to swim a personal best in Paris.
Durrani and Nabi will be watching tonight’s semi-finals from the stands after failing to advance beyond the heats.
Romania’s David Popovici — world junior record holder in the men’s event — is tonight’s top seed with a 1:45.65, followed by Lithuania’s Danys Rapsis with a 1:45.91 and Belgium’s Lucas Henveaux with a 1:46.04.
The women’s semi-final has Australia’s Mollie O’Callaghan as top seed with a 1:55.79. Her compatriot Ariarne Titmus heads into the semis as third seed with a 1:56.23 after being edged out by Canada’s Canada’s Mary-Sophie Harvey with a 1:56.21.
Titmus brought home Australia’s first gold medal in Paris as she defended her 400m Freestyle title with a 3:57.49 ahead of Canada’s Summer McIntosh and USA’s Katie Ledecky.
