MANILA, Philippines – Filipino tankers Luke Gebbie and Remedy Rule are the frontrunners of Philippine Swimming in qualifying for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics after their record-breaking performances in the 2019 FINA World Champions in Gwanju, South Korea. 

Filipino-American Remedy Rule – who shattered two of the 5 Philippine senior records in the competition – clocked 2 minutes and 11.38 seconds in the women’s 200m fly that made the Olympic Selection Time (OST) B cut of 2:12.28. 

Filipino-Kiwi Luke Gebbie’s Philippine record in the men’s 100m freestyle (49.94) also surpassed the OST B of the event of 50.03.

A country can only send one B-cut swimmer for each event to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, but the swimmers are still given chances to make the Qualifying Time A (QT-A) until the window closes. 

Last February, Fédération internationale de natation (FINA) sanctioned the country’s hosting of 2019 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games swimming tournament as an Olympic qualifying event for the first time in the history of the regional biennial meet. 

Rule and Gebbie will boost their bid for a SEA Games berth in the 2019 Philippine Open that will be held in New Clark City Aquatics Center in Capas from August 31 to September 3. 

This serves as Philippine Swimming Inc’s (PSI) qualifying meet for the 2019 SEA Games delegation, which will also test the official venue to be used for the regional biennial meet’s swimming tournament on December 4 to 9. 

Previous SEA Games medalists James Deiparine, Roxanne Yu, and Jasmine Alkhaldi, as well as two-time Olympian Jessie Lacuna and Nicole Oliva will vie for a return to the squad. 

Local standouts Sacho Ilustre, Jerard Jacinto and Xiandi Chua are also slated to compete for a maiden berth in the 2019 SEA Games swimming tournament. – Rappler.com