ZIMBABWE’S Denilson Cyprianos set a new personal best (PB) time of 2:01:91 on his debut Olympics men 200m backstroke event in Paris, France, yesterday, but the effort was not enough to see him through to the next stage of the competition.
The African Games gold medallist beat his previous best of 2:01:96 he achieved in Accra during the African Games in March.
In Paris yesterday, the 21-year-old lined up in Heat 1 and finished sixth in the race won by Australia’s Se-Bom Lee in a time of 1:58:30.
Kane Follows of New Zealand took second place in 1:58:63, while Israel’s David Gerchik was third in 1:58:79.
Despite finishing last in the race, Cyprianos was happy with his Olympics debut performance.
“That was good. I mean, obviously I wanted it to be faster. I wanted to go under two minutes today, but I am happy with the PB. It is my Olympic debut and it was just amazing to be out there in that atmosphere and hearing all the people there, seeing my whole family. I cannot ask for anything much more than this,” he said.
“I was just thankful that they [family] were finally here to watch me swim because the Olympic journey, they’ve been part of my entire journey. My mom and everyone at Cypriano Electrical that works to support me. It is just amazing that everyone could just be out here today [yesterday] to see me swim.”
Cyprianos becomes the second Zimbabwean swimmer at the ongoing Paris Olympics to fall by the wayside after Paige van der Westhuizen.
Unlike Cyprianos, van der Westhuizen came first in her Heat in the women’s 100m freestyle on Tuesday, but came short of qualifying to the semifinals.
Her time of 58.19 seconds saw her finishing 25th overall, when only 16 qualify to the semifinals.
It was also her debut Olympics swim.