Paris 24: Nigeria’s Tobi Sijuade Falls Short of Advancing in Men’s 50m Freestyle

Tobi Sijuade, on Thursday, August 1, 2024, finished third in heat 5 with a time of 23.24 seconds, but missed out on qualifying for the semifinals of the Men’s 50m Freestyle at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Sijuade, who at the African games made a time of 23.54, finished the race with an improved time of 23.24 seconds, although not enough to progress.

To advance, the 22-year-old swimmer needed to be among the top 16 overall, having one of the 16 fastest times across all 10 heats. Unfortunately, his time was 1.40 seconds slower than the last qualifying time of 21.94 seconds, made by France’s Grousett Maxime.

Sijuade who swam in lane three in his heat, took position with all eight swimmers awaiting the gunshot signalling them to launch into the water. The Benin-born had a good swim as he maintained focus, and rhythm, executing properly his breast stokes, gunning for the top spot but was outdone by Young and Micallef.

Fiji’s David Young clinched the top spot with a swift 22.85 seconds, followed by Malta’s Kyle Micallef, who made it to the wall at 23.12 seconds.

Tobi Sijuade was among Nigeria’s quartet of Colins Ebingha, Clinton Opute, and Abduljabar Adama, who won the Bronze medal in men’s 4x100m Freestyle Relay with a time of 3:26.01, in March at the African games in Ghana.