Ariful, Junayna register their personal bests

Bangladesh swimmers Ariful Islam and Junayna Ahmed managed to put their best performances in their respective 50m freestyle heat events at the Tokyo Olympics yesterday. However, their individual best timings were not enough for them to qualify for the next round. 

Ariful finished 51st among 73 competitors after clocking 24.92 seconds, having bettered his previous best of 28.81 made in 2019 World Championships. However, his score was far behind that of Pawal Juraszek, who secured the final spot to qualify for the 16-swimmer semifinal with a time of 21.97 seconds. 

England-born swimmer Junayna also suffered the same fate in women's 50m freestyle heat event after finishing 68th among 81 competitors. The teenage swimmer crossed the distance with a time of 29.78 seconds, some 5.01 seconds more than Dutch swimmer Femke Heemskerk, who was the last one to enter the 16-swimmer semifinal with a time of 24.77 seconds.

The 18-year-old swimmer, however, improved on 30.96 seconds, the timing she had clocked during the 2019 World Championships in Korea.