Filipina para swimmer Angel Mae Otom during the Heat 1 of Women's 50m Backstroke S5 of the 17th Paralympic Games in Paris. Handout/PSC-PPC

(UPDATED) Filipina para swimmer Angel Mae Otom took sixth place in the final of the women's 50m backstroke-S5 in the 2024 Paris Paralympics, with Chinese athletes sweeping the podium on Wednesday morning.

Otom, who is competing in her first Paralympics, clocked 44.00 at the La Defense Arena.

She was 6.49 seconds behind China's Lu Dong, who claimed the gold with a time of 37.51-seconds.

READ: Para swimmer Angel Mae Otom through to finals of 50m backstroke

Lu was followed by two more Chinese swimmers -- He Shenggao (39.93s) and Liu Yu (42.37) for silver and bronze, respectively.

Otom's time was slightly faster than her clocking in the heats (44.03s).

While grateful to have competed against the world's best, Otom was admittedly dissatisfied with her result and believed she could have done better than sixth place.

"Masaya akong nandito pero sayang, sayang. Pangit yung last 15 meters ko. Pinilit ko lang matapos maski sa sakit na naramdaman ko," she said. 

Otom managed to keep pace early with Lu, who eventually pulled away for her second straight gold medal in the event.

"Hindi ako masaya sa langoy ko. Hopefully next game alam  ko na yung areas to improve," said the Filipina swimmer. 

"Medyo marami pa kaming dapat i-work on. Although her training is okay, she needs to be comfortable in those things to make her better more consistently," said deputy para swimming coach Brian Ong. 

"Pero hindi ito ang kanyang huling laban. Bata pa si Angel. We are looking forward to her outing in the women’s 50-meter butterfly on Friday," he added. "We are still proud of her performance. This was a good learning experience for her."

Otom races again on Friday, with an eye towards a medal.

"I have to perform better. Kailangan physically and mentally prepared ako sa laban na iyan," said Otom, a four-time gold medalist in last year's Asean Para Games in Cambodia.