Nepali swimmer Alexander Shah set a new national record in the men’s 100 m freestyle event at the Paris 2024 on Tuesday.

Shah took 51.91 seconds in the Heat 3 at the Paris La Defence Arena, bettering his own previous national record of 52.17 seconds set during the World Aquatic Championship in Doha, Qatar.

The appearance in Paris also marked his second consecutive Olympics, after competing in the same pool event at Tokyo 2020.

Shah, who entered into the Paris Olympics through wild card, finished third in his Heat and 59th overall among 79 swimmers, meaning he could not progress past the Heat. Only the swimmers with best 16 times progressed into the semi-finals.

Shah also holds the national record in men’s 50 m freestyle with a time of 23.79 seconds.

Shah’s elimination means no Nepali swimmers have now made it past the Heat in the country’s Olympics history. Since making a debut at Atlanta 1996, a total of 13 swimmers have represented Nepal in the Olympics swimming pool.

On Sunday, Duana Lama also failed to cross the Heat in the women’s 200 m freestyle event as she finished last in the Heat 1 and 30th overall among 31 participants. Her time of 2 minutes 20.74 seconds could not even beat her previous best of 2 minutes 12.46 seconds. Gaurika Singh holds the national record in the women’s 200 m freestyle with 2:11.94 seconds.

Out of seven participants representing Nepal at the Paris Olympics, six have now been eliminated.

Earlier, Prince Dahal crashed out of men’s singles badminton competition following his 21-7, 21-5 defeat to Ireland’s 43rd seed Nhat Nguyen in his Group P match.

Dahal, ranked 172nd in the Badminton World Federation’s men’s singles rankings, had lost to world number two Viktor Axelson of Denmark 21-8, 21-6 in his opening match. Axelson is also the Tokyo 2020 gold medallist and Rio 2016 bronze medallist.

A second straight loss left Dahal at the bottom of his group. He next faces Misha Zilberman of Israel in his final group match on Wednesday. The 58th seed Zilberman is also winless.

Dahal entered the Paris 2024 on a universality spot.

On Saturday, table tennis player Santoo Shrestha was knocked out from the preliminary round after he lost his men’s singles match to Senegal’s Ibrahima Diaw 12-10, 11-3, 11-4, 11-5.

Santoo is the only third Nepali player to have qualified for the Olympics through a selection tournament after Sangina Baidya (Athens 2004) and Deepak Bista (Beijing 2008).

Paris 2024 also marked Nepal’s debut in badminton and table tennis.

On Monday, Judoka Manita Shrestha Pradhan could not progress from the first round. She lost her women’s 57 kg weight category Elimination round of 32 Pool A bout to Marcia Perisic of Serbia by ippon.

Shooter Sushmita Nepal also exited the Paris Olympics after finishing 42nd in the women’s 10 m air rifle qualification event. She had scored 104.2 in the first series, 101.7 in the second, 100.7 in the third, 99.9 in the fourth, 102.2 in the fifth and 98.8 in the sixth for a total score of 607.8.

Athlete Santoshi Shrestha will compete in the women’s marathon, which is scheduled for August 11—the final day of Paris 2024.