Ajido crumbles, settles for 5th place

DAKAR, Senegal — Swimmer Jamesray Mishael Ajido had the skills but not the body length and finished fifth in the men’s 100-meter butterfly event of the 4th Youth Olympic Games on Sunday.

Pitted against opponents who are a head or more taller, Ajido clocked 55.16 seconds to better his time in the morning qualifiers, where he placed seventh by almost two seconds, but it wasn’t enough for the bemedalled Asian juniors swimmer to break the podium here.

Egypt’s Ali Sain looked even more formidable in the final and erased his heat's best time of 53.96 seconds with 53.96 at the Complexe Tour de l’Ceuf pool.

The Egyptian had enough to spare as Serbia’s Aleksej Kalan was 0.65 seconds behind and Slovakia’s Marias Kristof was .05 second further back for the bronze medal.

India’s Tirthank Pegun was fifth at 54.98.

A dejected Ajido — the only Southeast Asian in the final — passed the Mixed Zone protocol. He still has the 50 meters freestyle and butterfly on Tuesday.

Riannah Chantelle Coleman, meanwhile, swims in the second of two heats in the women's 200-meter breaststroke set at 11:02 a.m. (Dakar time) on Monday.

The nine-athlete Team Philippines in the YOG is supported by the Philippine Sports Commission.