FIL-AM tanker wins para gold

Pergolini rules 100m backstroke in record time

MANILA, Philippines — Fil-Am swimmer Gia Pergolini of Team USA made a big splash in her Tokyo Paralympics debut, ripping her own world record twice en route to the gold medal in the 100-meter backstroke (S13) yesterday at the Tokyo Aquatics Center.

Pergolini, whose father Bill is Italian-American and mother Alice Masangkay was born and raised in Manila, set a new mark of 1:05:05 first in the qualifying heats then lowered it further to 1:04:64 in topping the finals.

The 17-year-old ace bested top rivals Carlotta Gilli of Italy (1:06:10) and Katja Dedekind of Australia (1:06:49).

“It’s surreal,” Pergolini said in a report on the Team USA website. “I’ve been thinking about this moment for the past five years. This past year, I was thinking about it day and night. There are so many emotions finally seeing all my hard work pay off. Representing my country and getting them a gold medal is just crazy.”

Pergolini was determined to improve the 1:05.13 world standard she herself established during the US trials. She did so twice in Tokyo.

“For the past couple months, I always said to myself ‘1:04, 1:04, 1:04. I’m going to get 1:04,’” Pergolini said. “So going into this race, I was confident I was going to go 1:04. I focused on just going out, having fun and representing my country. The last 50 meters did hurt, but I stuck with it, and I finished strong. It was worth it.”

Pergolini, who was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, began swimming at age four. But in fourth grade, she was diagnosed with Stargardt disease, an inherited degenerative disorder of the retina that can lead to full blindness.

Today, she can still discern the pool walls ang flags.

Her proud grandparents Roger and Alicia Masangkay shuttle between Atlanta and their home in Cubao, Quezon City.

Pergolini’s smashing triumph came as Team Philippines’ bet Jerrold Mangliwan advanced to the finals in wheelchair racing while Ernie Gawilan bowed out of the 200m individual medley SM7 medal swim.

Mangliwan clocked one minute and 3.41 seconds to end up as the seventh seed in the eight-man finals of the men’s 400 meters T52.

“Yung slow start ang talagang weakness ni Jerrold na dine-develop natin. Naiwan sya sa start pero nakabawi sa bandang gitna,” said Deriada.

“Actually, his (Mangliwan) fastest time is 1:00.97 when he got the silver medal in the event in the 2015 ASEAN Para Games, but it was not recognized because the meet was not sanctioned by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).

In the finals, Mangliwan finished fifth with a personal best of 1:00.80 but was later disqualified by technical officials due to lane infringement.

“Pero may chance talaga si Jerrold mag-medal, sa diskarte na niya talaga yan at pare-pareho na sila lahat dyan sa finals,” he added.

Gawilan timed in 2:50.49 to wind up No. 9 after the 200m individual medley SM7 heats and miss out on the finals.