First swimming medal at Commonwealth Games for S’pore has to wait
SINGAPORE – A first swimming medal for Singapore at the Commonwealth Games will have to wait as talented local swimmer Joseph Schooling did not make the podium of the men’s 50m butterfly final this morning (2.10am, Singapore time).
SINGAPORE – A first swimming medal for Singapore at the Commonwealth Games will have to wait as talented local swimmer Joseph Schooling did not make the podium of the men’s 50m butterfly final this morning (2.10am, Singapore time).
At the Tollcross International Swimming Complex, Schooling, 19, clocked 23.96secs to come in seventh.
It was another 19-year-old, England’s Benjamin Proud, that took gold in the 50m butterfly as he powered home in a Games record timing of 22.93secs.
Proud’s effort erased South African Roland Schoeman’s mark of 23.14secs set in the 2006 Commomwealth Games in Australia. This time, Schoeman, 34, settled for silver in 23.13secs, while his compatriot Chad le Clos, gold medalist in the 2012 London Olympics (200m butterfly), took bronze (23.36secs).
For this event, Schooling had earlier clocked 23.43secs in a new personal best and national record in the 50m butterfly heats on Thursday evening (Singapore time) to come in second in the 50-strong field. He later timed 23.48secs in the semi-finals in the early hours yesterday to come in fifth.
Said Schooling after his race in the final: “I train for the 200m and the 100m (butterfly events), and not really the 50m (butterfly). Obviously I came into this race just wanting to race as fast as I can with pretty much no expectation. But for the next few butterfly events, I obviously have much more expectations for myself, so we will see what happens.”
Tipped as Singapore’s brightest hope to bring back a first swimming medal for the nation at the quadrennial Games, Schooling will be looking to swim some of his best times in the remaining of the six-day swimming competition (Jul 24-Jul 29) at Glasgow, Scotland.
The United States-based swimmer will be in action again this evening in the men’s 200m butterfly heats (5.37pm, Singapore time).