RIO DE JANEIRO: Nepali swimmer Sirish Gurung set the new national record in 100m freestyle in the Rio Olympic Games here at the Olympics Aquatic Stadium on Tuesday.

Gurung swam the distance in 57.76 seconds in Heat 2 improving on his previous best mark of 58.22.

Swimming on Lane 8, Gurung finished last among the eight participants but that did not prevent him from breaking the national record.

Gurung did not qualify for the semi-finals as he came 58th out of 59 participants in the event. He finished ahead of Ethiopia’s Robel Kiros Habte, who finished in 1:04.95.

Sixteen swimmers who finished up to 48.58 seconds earned spots in the semi-finals.

This is the 46th time Gurung broke the national record in his 13-year career.

He had set the record of 58.22 seconds in 100m freestyle during the 16th FINA World Championship in Kazan last year.

The 17-year-old Tribhuvan Army Club swimmer currently holds 15 national records -- 12 in individual events and three team events.

He trained for a year in Thailand under Olympic Scholarship programme before the Rio Games.

Gurung had also participated in Incheon Asian Games in 2015. He came close to winning bronze medal in the 12th South Asian Games in India earlier this year.

He had participated in 200m and 400m Individual Medley events and 200m Freestyle. In 400m, Gurung finished fourth by small margin.

Another swimmer, Gaurika Singh completed her event on Sunday.

Despite winning her Heat of three competitors, Singh finished 31st among 34 swimmers and also failed to break the national record in 100m backstroke. She, however, became the youngest athlete of Rio Olympics at 13 years and 255 days when she competed in the heats.

Men's 100m freestyle heats results

1. Kyle Chalmers (Australia) 47.90 seconds Q

2. Caeleb Dressel (US) 47.91 Q

3. Duncan Scott (Britain) 48.01 Q

4. Cameron McEvoy (Australia) 48.12 Q

5. Santo Condorelli (Canada) 48.22 Q

6. Joseph Schooling (Singapore) 48.27 Q

7. Damian Wierling (Germany) 48.35 Q

8. Vladimir Morozov (Russia) 48.39 Q

9. Pieter Timmers (Belgium) 48.46 Q

10. Luca Dotto (Italy) 48.47 Q

11. Yuri Kisil (Canada) 48.49 Q

12. Sebastiaan Verschuren (Netherlands) 48.51 Q

13. Marcelo Chierighini (Brazil) 48.53 Q

14. Ning Zetao (China) 48.57 Q

14. Clement Mignon (France) 48.57 Q

16. Nathan Adrian (U.S.) 48.58 Q

17. Katsumi Nakamura (Japan) 48.61

18. Jeremy Stravius (France) 48.62

19. Glenn Surgeloose (Belgium) 48.65

20. Kristian Gkolomeev (Greece) 48.68

21. Andrey Grechin (Russia) 48.75

22. Federico Grabich (Argentina) 48.78

23. Dylan Carter (Trinidad and Tobago) 48.80

24. Richard Bohus (Hungary) 48.86

25. Yu Hexin (China) 48.87

26. Dominik Kozma (Hungary) 48.92

27. Shinri Shioura (Japan) 48.94

28. Nicolas Oliveira (Brazil) 49.05

29. Benjamin Proud (Britain) 49.14

30. Simonas Bilis (Lithuania) 49.16

31. Sahnoune Oussama (Algeria) 49.20

32. Park Taehwan (Korea) 49.24

32. Velimir Stjepanovic (Serbia) 49.24

34. Cristian Quintero (Venezuela) 49.25

35. Yauhen Tsurkin (Belarus) 49.37

36. Anze Tavcar (Slovenia) 49.38

37. Filippo Magnini (Italy) 49.40

38. Marius Radu (Romania) 49.57

39. Bjoern Hornikel (Germany) 49.62

40. Shane Ryan (Ireland) 49.82

41. Aleksandar Nikolov (Bulgaria) 50.08

42. Ari-Pekka Liukkonen (Finland) 50.14

42. Matthew Stanley (New Zealand) 50.14

44. Benjamin Hockin (Paraguay) 50.26

45. Igor Mogne (Mozambique) 50.65

45. Ziv Kalontarov (Israel) 50.65

47. Raphael Stacchiotti (Luxembourg) 50.79

48. Sean Gunn (Zimbabwe) 50.87

49. Bradley Vincent (Mauritius) 50.89

50. Matthew Abeysinghe (Sri Lanka) 50.96

51. Andrew Chetcuti (Malta) 51.37

52. Jhonny Perez (Dominican Republic) 51.50

53. Nicholas Magana (Peru) 51.53

54. Thibaut Danho (Ivory Coast) 52.78

55. Miguel Mena (Nicaragua) 53.40

56. Rami Anis (Refugee Olympic Team) 54.25

57. Sovijja Pou (Cambodia) 54.55

58. Sirish Gurung (Nepal) 57.76

59. Robel Kiros Habte (Ethiopia) 1:04.95

Source: Reuters

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Sirish Gurung breaks national record in 100m freestyle in Rio

THT Online

KATHMANDU: Swimmer Shirish Gurung set the new national record in 100m freestyle in the Rio Olympic Games at the Olympics Aquatic Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Tuesday.

Gurung clocked 57.76s in his heat. Though he finished last in the eight-man field, the 17-year-old swimmer bettered his own national record.

Heat 2

Athlete

Time

 Source: Google

He finished last in the Heat 2 and ranked 58th among 59 swimmers.

Gurung did not not qualify to the next round.

READ ALSO:

• Gurung eyes national record at Rio

• Gaurika Singh fails to break own mark in Rio Olympics