Joseph Schooling wants two gold medals at world championships

SINGAPORE — As if a world record-breaking attempt were not challenging enough, Olympic champion Joseph Schooling has decided to up the ante for this month’s Fina World Championships — by setting himself a new target of winning two gold medals in the 50m and 100m butterfly events in Budapest.

While the 22-year-old had previously declared he wanted to win more than one medal at the world meet, Schooling — who won a 100m butterfly bronze in the last edition in 2015 — said he is gunning for more now.

“The 50m is a crap shoot, you never know what’s going to happen,” he said in a teleconference call from Texas on Wednesday (July 5). “Something could go wrong real fast and could change. 

“I’m confident I’m not going to make those mistakes. I’m confident in my training, and I think I can win both. I think I have a good chance of winning.”

Schooling is pencilled in for four events at the July 23-30 world meet: the 50m, 100m, and 200m butterfly, and the 100m freestyle. 

But the Singaporean will face a fierce challenge in his double-title hunt in Hungary from American top-ranked swimmer Caeleb Dressel, home favourite and two-time world champion Laszlo Cseh, South Africa’s Chad le Clos, and China’s Li Zhuhao. 

He is looking forward to the battle ahead. “They are all good rivals, Caeleb, Chad, Lazslo, the Chinese kid,” he said. “It’s going to be a fight for sure, and I’m looking forward to that. I don’t like things being given to me, and I like people putting up a fight.

“All those guys are amazing swimmers, so beating them will definitely be a huge accomplishment.”

Rising star Dressel — who was Schooling’s teammate at Bolles School — stripped Schooling of his 100-yard fly title at this year’s National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championships. 

The 20-year-old former world junior champion, who won a gold in the 4x100m freestyle relay at the Rio Olympics, also clocked the season’s fastest time of 50.87sec at last week’s Summer National Championships to claim top spot in Fina’s 100m fly world rankings (this year). 

Le Clos has the second fastest time of 51.29sec, while Li is fifth (51.34sec). Schooling is 13th at 51.82sec. 

The prospect of facing his former teammate in the pool this month has  Schooling all fired up, as he looks to bounce back from a disappointing outing at this year’s NCAA, at which he failed to win an individual gold. 

“Obviously, it (losing to Dressel at the NCAA) is a huge motivation for me — I’m glad that I have a shot at going up against him in three events,” said the University of Texas undergraduate.  

“He wants to beat me, I want to beat him, so that’s just good motivation for the both of us, and it’s going to bring some crazy times. 

“I’m not worried about how fast he can go, I’m just worried about racing, and what I want to do.”

Schooling added that he has rediscovered his winning drive in recent months after suffering a post-Olympics hangover. 

“It’s just the mindset (that has changed),” he said. 

“I was tired of feeling sloppy, and I was tired of losing. 

“And what are you going to do? You’re going to do something about it, and basically me hating to lose and knowing that if I want to win, I have got to put in a lot of work, and that’s what happened.”

He will also be taking aim at swim legend Michael Phelps’ 100m fly world record of 49.82sec this time, and Schooling — who will compete in the Speedo long-course sectional meet this weekend — is itching to get started.

He added: “All the work’s done … I think I have put myself in the best spot I could have considering all the circumstances this year, so right now it is just about getting enough rest, trusting the taper, trusting Eddie (his coach Eddie Reese) with everything, having a clear mind, and focusing on my goals. 

“That’s what I need from now till I race. I have to prepare as well as I can, and I believe I have a good shot at doing that (creating history).”