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Four swimmers who can upset Schooling at the world championships

BUDAPEST – As the race to the finish heats up in the Hungarian city, who will be crowned king of the pool in the 100m butterfly at the Fina World Championships? TODAY looks at the potential challengers to Joseph Schooling’s hunt for glory at the Duna Arena.

SCHOOLING'S RIVALS: These swimmers are set to give Joseph Schooling a run for his money at the Fina World Championships in Budapest. From left to right: Caeleb Dressel (US), Laszlo Cseh (Hungary), Chad le Clos (South Africa), Li Zhuhao (China). Photos: AFP

SCHOOLING'S RIVALS: These swimmers are set to give Joseph Schooling a run for his money at the Fina World Championships in Budapest. From left to right: Caeleb Dressel (US), Laszlo Cseh (Hungary), Chad le Clos (South Africa), Li Zhuhao (China). Photos: AFP

BUDAPEST – As the race to the finish heats up in the Hungarian city, who will be crowned king of the pool in the 100m butterfly at the Fina World Championships? TODAY looks at the potential challengers to Joseph Schooling’s hunt for glory at the Duna Arena.

Caeleb Dressel (United States), 20

Season’s best: 50.87sec, world ranking: 1

A former junior world champion, the NCAA All-American was Schooling’s former teammate at Bolles School in Florida.

The 20-year-old has emerged as a potential superstar for the United States swim team after clocking the season’s fastest time of 50.87sec in the 100m fly at the US Nationals. Dressel and Schooling are the only two swimmers to go below 51-sec this year, and the duo’s highly-anticipated showdown is set to light the Duna Arena on fire.

This particularly after Dressel’s upset victory over his older rival in the 100-yards butterfly at the NCAA meet in March, where he beat defending champion Schooling to gold and rewrote his record.

Laszlo Cseh (Hungary), 31

Season’s best: 51.87sec, world ranking: 15

A nine-time Hungarian Swimmer of the Year winner, the veteran Cseh has won 33 European long-course and short-course titles, as well as two world titles in 2005 and 2015 in the 400m medley and 200m butterfly respectively.

While the 31-year-old has won six medals at the Olympic Games since the Athens Games in 2004, he has never struck gold.

At the 2016 Rio Olympics, he was beaten in the 100m fly by Singaporean Joseph Schooling, winning a joint-silver with Michael Phelps and Chad le Clos of South Africa.

The Fina world championships in Budapest will be Cseh’s swansong at the world meet.

Chad le Clos (South Africa), 25

Season best: 51.29sec, world ranking: 3

The talented young swimmer first made his international mark as a 19-year-old at the inaugural Youth Olympic Games in Singapore in 2010, winning five medals: one gold, three silver and a bronze.

The 25-year-old has since added more trophies and medals to his collection, including a gold and silver in the 200m and 100m fly respectively at the London 2012 Olympics Games, and two more silver medals (100m fly, 200m freestyle) at the 2016 Rio Games.

A three-time world champion, le Clos will be looking to defend his 100m fly title in Budapest.

Li Zhuhao (China), 18

Season best: 51.34sec, world ranking: 6

One of the youngest among the list of contenders for the 100m fly crown, Li made his mark early in his career. At the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, the then-15-year-old won a silver in the 100m fly, before adding a gold in the 4x100m medley relay in a new Asian Games record time.

During his debut at the world championships in Kazan two years ago, he clocked a new world junior record time of 51.33sec in the 100m fly semi-finals, and eventually finished eighth in the final. He claimed his second world junior mark at a local Chinese meet a month later when he clocked 1:55.52 in the 200m fly.

He finished fifth in the 100m fly finals in Rio last August.

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