Although Jarod Hatch finished out of semifinal contention, his swim in the Paris Olympics still marks a huge milestone in his career.
Jarod Hatch can officially call himself an Olympian.
The Filipino swimmer carried the flag in the men’s 100m butterfly event to mark his Olympic debut, and clocking a time of 54.66s, he finished his heat in eighth. Although this granted him a 12th-place spot overall by the end of heat 2, he dropped down to 36th as the remaining heats went on, placing him out of contention to advance to the semifinals, as only the top 16 swimmers qualify for the next round.
The men’s 100m butterfly event is Jarod’s main event, and he proved this when he broke the Philippine national record by setting a time of 52.87s in the 2023 World Aquatics championships.
Although his recorded time in his Olympics debut was a couple of seconds off his personal best, Jarod still made a valiant effort in a highly competitive field, where mere fractions of seconds separated the swimmers.
Topping the men’s 100m butterfly was Hungary’s Kristof Milak with a time of 50.19s. He was followed by Josh Liendo and Noe Ponti who recorded times of 50.55s and 50.65s, respectively.
Hatch was one out of just two swimmers to represent the Philippines in the 2024 Olympics. He traveled to Paris alongside Kayla Sanchez, who competed in the women’s 100m freestyle and concluded her campaign in the semifinals.
Jarod Hatch may be concluding his Olympic debut here, but this still marks a huge milestone for the Filipino-American, especially after he had nearly stopped his competitive career in 2021, before coming back to don the Philippine flag once again. From then on, he went on to win three medals in the 2023 Southeast Asian Games and currently holds the Philippine national record for the men’s 100m butterfly.
Now, he adds the 2024 Paris Olympics to his list of career achievements.
Banner image from Jarod Hatch on Instagram.
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