Jayson Valdez slowly but surely steadied himself, but it was too little too late as his 612.6 points placed him 44th out of 47 competitors in the men's 10m air rifle qualifying of the Tokyo Olympics, Sunday inside the Asaka Shooting Range.
Only the top eight advance to the final and the lone Filipino shooter in the Games fell 16.6 points short of eighth-ranked Lihao Sheng of China with 629.2 points.
Valdez started slow, failing to top 102 points in the first three frames before finding the mark in the latter half of qualifications and getting 103.6 in the fourth, 103.5 in the fifth, and 102.1 in the sixth.
Back in training, the 25-year-old shared he was hitting at around 630-631, which would have been the range of the Olympic record. A slow start doomed him from reaching those heights and advancing to the medal round.
Valdez's personal-best in the event is 620 points in the 2019 International Shooting Sport Federation World Cup in Beijing. He also owns the Philippine record at 618.6 from the Indonesia-hosted 2018 Asian Games.
China's Haoran Yang topped qualifying at 632.7 followed by Americans Lucas Kozeniesky and William Shaner with 631.5 and 630.8 points, respectively.
The event has competitors standing and shooting at a target 10m away using an air rifle. The final is scheduled for later in the day at 2:30 p.m. (Philippine time).
Valdez is the first Filipino shooter in the Olympiad since Paul Brian Rosario in men's skeet in London 2012.