RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — Despite finishing a creditable second in his 100m backstroke heat, Jamaica’s Timothy Wynter was eliminated yesterday at the Olympic Aquatic Stadium.

Wynter, 20, who was making his Olympic debut, showed a lot of promise to place second in heat one with 57.20 seconds. The race was won by Merdan Atayev of Turkmenistan in 56.34 seconds. Third went to David van der Colff of Botswana with 57.77 seconds.

Wynter, drawn in lane five, went out fast and led at the halfway mark clocking 26.99 seconds at the 50m, but he was caught by Atayev, losing by 0.86 seconds.

However, after the completion of the five heats, Wynter was ranked at 34 with Atayev 33rd out of 39 swimmers, which mean their heat was the slowest, hence their elimination.

“It’s my first time at the Olympics, so I am happy,” said Wynter, as he sauntered through the mixed zone.

The Jamaican admits that said he went through a emotional roller-coaster ride prior to the race as it seemed so surreal.

“My mind kind of went blank at the start, when I kinda saw myself on the camera and I was laughing. It’s all fun,” said Wynter, with a smile.

Wynter, who attends the University of Southern California and holds Jamaica national records in both the 50 and 100 backstroke in both short course and long course, was not perturbed with his elimination.

“[I’m] not concerned about it. I just finished my first year at college and I think I can get a lot stronger. But one more race down under my belt, so I can work with that,” he noted.

Meanwhile, former president of the Amateur Swimming Association of Jamaica, Martin Lyn, who is the deputy chef de mission of the Jamaican delegation in Rio, was more than pleased with Wynter’s effort.

“It was a great swim as he went out fast… before he was nervous, but that’s good and the time he swam a while ago was an excellent time for his first Olympics,” said Lyn.

— Howard Walker