Joseph Schooling's road to Rio2016 final

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RIO DE JANEIRO – Thanks to his scintillating performance in the Rio Olympics’ 100m butterfly semi-finals Friday morning (Aug 12), Joseph Schooling is now just a step away from creating sporting history for Singapore. 

The 21-year-old Singaporean clocked a new Asian and national record time of 50.83sec to finish as the fastest qualifier for the final.

Schooling’s time is also the world’s fastest in the event this year, although Michael Phelps still holds the world record of 49.82sec which was set in 2009. 

But as Singapore Swimming national head coach Sergio Lopez told TODAY sports correspondent Low Lin Fhoong after the race: “I think tomorrow is not so much about the time. It’s going to be about execution.

“Joe’s proven that he can swim a night race. Many people are not able to swim at night, you see a lot of medalists from the last Olympics, world championships not even qualifying.

“If he can execute like today, he’s in the race, he have a big chance. The second guy was six tenths behind him, it’ll be exciting."

Schooling’s time in the semi-finals Friday morning continues his remarkable journey of progressively slashing his times over the last four years.

It was just three years ago, at the 2013 South-east Asian Games in Myanmar, when he clocked a new SEA Games record of 52.67sec to win the gold.

Nine months later, he reduced that time by almost a second when he won the 100m fly at the Asian Games in a new Asiad record of 51.76sec.

At last year’s SEA Games on home soil in June, he successfully defended his crown by splashing his way to gold in 52.13sec. Two months later, the then 20-year-old announced his arrival as a world-class athlete and an Olympic medal prospect when he spectacularly  won a bronze  at the World Championships in a new Asian and national record time of 50.96sec.

Prior to the Olympics, Schooling did not go under 50.96sec although he did beat  Michael Phelps in the event at the Longhorns Elite Invitational in June in 51.58sec (Phelps clocked 51.65sec).

Although that time is only the 13th best in the world this year, Schooling subsequently indicated that he can go faster. As he told TODAY sports correspondent Low Lin Fhoong after his 100m freestyle semi-final, where he finished eighth in his race, and 16th overall: “I did a 100m fly few days before I took off and by myself, I was 51.4 just trying to get up.”

He lived up to his word.

Earlier Friday morning (S'pore time), he clocked 51.41sec in his heat to not only get the better of Phelps (51.60secs) who was in the same heat but also enter the semi-finals as the fastest qualifier.

And now he has reached the final as the fastest qualifier, with the world’s best time this year.

Will he be able to go any faster? Schooling doesn’t care at this stage. He said simply: “It’s all about winning the gold medal, I don’t care about breaking the world record and getting a silver or bronze. (It means) I still lost. It’s all about winning.”

WATCH SCHOOLING IN ACTION:

Joseph Schooling’s 100m fly final will be at 9.10am Saturday morning (Aug 13).   

Watch the live coverage of Rio 2016 on okto and Toggle. For full details, visit toggle.sg/Rio2016.