The foursome of Jasmine Alkhaldi, Xiandi Chua, Teia Salvino and Kayla Sanchez missed a chance to secure a spot in the Paris Olympics’ women’s 4×100 meter freestyle relay.
They finished with a clocking 3:46.93 during the preliminaries on Sunday to end up 12th among 14 countries at the Doha World Championships Sunday afternoon.
Poland went on to claim a slot in the Paris Olympics with its 3:41.43 preliminary time, while Slovenia clocked 3:42.91 in the prelims and now ranks 17th overall for Paris Olympics.
Despite their misfortunes, the Philippines will have more chances to qualify, Eric Buhain, secretary general of the Philippine Aquatics Inc., said.
Buhain added that more opportunities for Filipino swimmers will come during the 11th Asian Age Group Championships.
The meet will offer Filipino swimmers more opportunities, following World Aquatics’ announcement that it will be one of the events serving as a qualifier to this year’s Summer Games.
Competitions are set to take place from Feb. 26 to March 9 at the New Clark City Aquatics Center in Capas, Tarlac.
The clocking of Alkhaldi, Salvino, Chua and Sanchez were almost two seconds off the Philippine national record that they own.
During the Hangzhou Asian Games, Alkhadi, Salvino, Chua and Sanchez set a new national mark with their time of 3:44.31.