It is quite a fall from grace for swimmer Welson Sim.
Five years ago, the Sarawakian was billed to carry Malaysia's swimming prospects into the future after qualifying for the Rio Olympics on merit.
But instead, Welson's form has taken a sharp decline, and he did himself no favours after a poor race at the Tokyo Olympics.
The 24-year-old, swimming in Heat Two of the men's 400m freestyle event, clocked a poor time of 3:58.25s to finish sixth out of eight swimmers at the Olympic Aquatic Centre yesterday. His performance was a far cry from his national record of 3:49.29, set in 2019.
It was also nowhere near his performance in 2016, where he clocked 3:51.57 to finish 34th overall.
To add insult to injury, Indonesia's Aflah Fadlan Prawira, who took bronze behind Welson at the 2019 Sea Games, finished ahead of him in the same heat. The Indonesian clocked 3:55.08 to finish fourth in the heat.
National swimming coach Chris Martin explained that Welson has been struggling for form after breaking his arm following a motorcycle accident in March.
"It has been difficult for Welson to get his rhythm back for this Olympic, especially after he had two pins inserted into his left arm after the incident," said Marin.
"He feels the pain on some days, and we've got to give him some credit for trying his best to prepare."
Welson will compete in the 200m freestyle today. He will swim in Heat 2 and is unlikely to qualify for the semi-finals.
Meanwhile, Phee Jinq En will be in action in the women's 100m breaststroke event today.
Jinq En has the second best entry time (1:08.50) in the heat, behind Croatia's Ema Rajic (1:08.17).
Only the top-16 swimmers from six heats will advance to the semi-finals.