By BRENT STUBBS

Chief Sports Editor

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

PARIS, France — Lamar Taylor touched the wall first in his heat of the men's 100 metres preliminaries, but it wasn't fast enough to get him into the semifinal at the 2024 Olympic Games.

In his debut at the games as the first member of Team Bahamas to get into action, Taylor won the fifth of ten heats in a national record time of 48,84 seconds.

He finished 26th overall, which denied him an opportunity to come back for a second swim as the 16th best qualifying time was 48.47. by Jacob Henry Whittle of Great Britain.

"I was pretty confident going into the race. I knew that I trained hard for this race and this moment," said Taylor to the media in the mixed zone after the race. "I just had to execute and I did pretty good. In the last 10-15 metres, my legs just started to tighten up at the end."

Despite not advancing, Taylor said he was thrilled with his huge lifetime best.

Next up for Team Bahamas in the pool is Rhanishka Gibbs in the women's 50m preliminaries on Saturday, August 3.

The track and field team, the only other discipline competing at the games, will also begin competition this weekend.