Olympics: Ssengonzi misses out on semis in Men's 100m butterfly

Swimmer Jesse Ssengonzi has missed out on the 100m Butterfly semifinals after finishing second in Heat One at the ongoing Paris Olympics 2024.

Ssengonzi clocked 53:76 seconds behind Croatia's Nikola Miljenic who one the Heat in a time of 53:32 seconds.

Unfortunately, the Ugandan swimmer's second place was not enough for him to advance to the semis, as his time only placed him 31st overall.

The 16 fastest swimmers qualified for semifinals.

All was not lost for Ssengozi as the national record holder managed to beat his personal best time of 54:00, set last year at TYR Pro Swim Series in USA.

The Computer Science and Economics graduate becomes 8th male swimmer from Uganda to compete in the Olympics.

Going into the Olympics, the young swimmer had not only set his eyes on making Uganda proud, but to also break the national record, which he successfully did.

"I see it as an opportunity to do my best, show all my hard work, and hopefully inspire other Ugandan swimmers to stick with the sport," he was quoted as saying.

Friday will be a busy day for Uganda's contingent at the Olympics in Paris, with seven athletes lining up to win medals.

Esther Chebet, Belinda Chemutai and Joy Cheptoyek will compete in women's 5000m, heat I) at 7:10 EAT, while Halima Nakaayi will battle in the Women's 800m at 8:45 (EAT).

Joshua Cheptegei, Jacob Kiplimo and Martin Magengo Kiprotich will wrap the day for Uganda in the Men's 10000m final at 10:20PM EAT.