Seychelles' sportspeople give their best at Paris Olympics 

Bachmann (1st right) competed in the Heat 1 of the 200m individual medley. (Alain Alcindor)

The participation of the three Seychellois athletes in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games has ended but they all gave their best in their respective events.

In athletics, sprinter Dylan Sicobo Sicobo, one of  Seychelles' flag bearers at the games, finished second in his heat in the preliminary rounds.

Sicobo was racing alongside athletes from Suriname, Panama, and Gabon, among others and managed to cross the line in second place with a time of 10.51 seconds. In the first spot was Panama's Arturo Deliser Espinosa, with a time of 10.34 seconds, and in third place was Wissy Moukoula of Gabon, in 10.59 seconds.

In the next round, Sicobo found himself against athletes from Great Britain, United States, South Africa and Germany and could only manage a time of 10.62 seconds, leaving him in ninth place. He finished 62nd overall in the first round of the 100m heats. 

For Sicobo, 27, this marks the end of his first Olympic Games journey. The Seychellois sprinter who is currently training in Dakar, Senegal, is the holder of  Seychelles' 100m national record. He set the record of 10.33 seconds when he won gold at the Francophone Games in 2017.

Great Britain's Louie Hinchliffe finished first with a time of 9.98 seconds ahead of American Noah Lyles in 10.04 seconds. South Africa's Shaun Maswanganyi was third in 10.06 seconds.

Before the Games, the sprinter explained that he had struggled with injuries and adapting to training in a new country, but his goal was to at least make out of the preliminary rounds, which he has achieved.

Seychelles' other participants in the Paris Olympic Games were swimmers Simon Bachmann and Khema Elizabeth.

Bachmann competed in the Heat 1 of the 200m individual medley. The 25-year-old is Seychelles' top male swimmer and finished the race with a time of 2 minutes 6.48 seconds (2:06.48s), ahead of Bolivia's Esteban Nunez Del Prado, but three seconds behind Matheo Mateos of Paraguay.

His result was a few seconds off his personal best for the event at 2:05.95 seconds set in 2023 at the French Elite championships.

The gold medal was won by Hungary's Kristof Milak with a time of 1:51.25, ahead of Japan's Tomoru Honda (1:53.73) and Federico Burdisso of Italy was third with a time of 1:54.45.

Elizabeth competed in heat 5 in the women's 50-metre freestyle. (Seychelles Swimming News)  Photo License: All Rights Reserved

Meanwhile, Elizabeth, who was competing in the Olympic Games for the first time, was in heat 5 and alongside her were athletes from Montenegro, Eritrea, Benin, and others in the women's 50m freestyle event. The 19-year-old managed a sixth place finish in 28.18 seconds, to finish ahead of swimmers from Samoa and Tanzania.

Elizabeth's personal best time for the event is 27.81 seconds, which she achieved in 2023, at the World Aquatics Junior Championships in Israel.

The fastest time in this heat was by Jovana Kuljaca of Montenegro (27.19 seconds), while second place went to Eritrea's Christina Rach, with a time of 27.20 seconds, while in third place was St Vincent and the Grenadines' Kennice Greene, in 27.61 seconds.