Schooling-Dressel final showdown on the cards?

BUDAPEST – Back in the pool for his final shot at gold at the Fina World Championships, national swimmer Joseph Schooling kicked off his campaign in the men’s 100m butterfly on Friday with a clinical swim in the morning heats (Friday afternoon, Singapore time).

The 22-year-old clocked 51.21sec to finished first in heat 8, with Hungary’s Kristof Milak (51.23sec) and newly-crowned 200m fly champion Chad le Clos of South Africa third in 51.28sec.

The reigning Olympic champion eventually placed fourth overall to qualify for the semi-finals, with American Caeleb Dressel (50.08sec), Piero Codia of Italy (51.09sec) and Britain’s James Guy (51.16sec) ranked in the top three respectively after the heats.

Schooling said after the race: “It was fine, it felt like a morning swim. The most important thing is to make it back the top 16, and now on to the next race.

“All I needed to do was make it back top 16. I don’t care what I did well, what I didn’t do well.”

While the race went as planned for Schooling, it was yet another case of deja vu for teammate Quah Zheng Wen, as the 20-year-old finished 18th overall in the heats to miss out on the semi-final by two spots. This is the third time that Quah has finished 18th at the world meet after similar results in the 100m backstroke and 200m fly earlier this week. He also failed to qualify for the 200m backstroke semis after finishing 24th.  

“I’m 18th again. I honestly don’t believe it” he said.

“It’s definitely very annoying (to keep finishing 18th), especially for the third time in a row.

“The top 16 in Budapest is faster than the Olympics last year. This wasn’t really my main event so even though I was 18th again here, I was definitely more disappointed after the second time I was 18th which was in the 200m fly.”

Quah has one remaining race left in Budapest and will race the 50m backstroke on Saturday. He added: “I don’t feel I have the speed right now because I’ve been focusing a lot on the 200fly, so I’ll just have to go back to basics.”

“I haven’t had that good of a meet, so it’s just back to the drawing board, see how things are going and I guess I’ll just have to be supporting Joseph the rest of the way.”

While Team Singapore saw mixed fortunes in the 100m butterfly heats, it was American swimmer Dressel who easily dominated the morning session on Friday. Just 40 minutes after swimming the 50m freestyle heats – he finished second overall in 21.61sec – the 20-year-old was back in the Duna Arena pool for the 100m fly heats.

But the swimmer was not about to sit back and relax, throwing down the gauntlet to Olympic champion Schooling and his rivals with a blistering 50.08sec swim to finish over a second ahead of the second-fastest qualifier (51.09sec, Codia) and claim top spot.

His time is fastest-ever in a textile suit, eclipsing Schooling’s previous best of 50.39sec when he won gold in a new Olympic record in Rio. It is also the third fastest time ever in the world, just behind Michael Phelps (49.82sec, world record) and Milorad Cavic (49.95sec) who were racing in the high-tech super suits then.

Touted as the successor to Phelps, Dressel has already claimed three gold medals in Budapest in the 100m freestyle, 4x100m freestyle relay and 4x100m mixed medley relay.

His result in the heats could also set up a tantalising showdown between former Bolles School teammates Dressel and Schooling in the final. In March this year, University of Florida swimmer Dressel usurped two-time champion Schooling in the 100-yards fly at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) meet, claiming the gold ahead of the Singaporean.

His feats at the world championships have not gone unnoticed. Always up for a challenge, Schooling said on Friday: “That’s fast, that’s a solid time (from Dressel). I’m pumped to race him, and that should be fun.

“I don’t think any of us expected that (time), so it’s definitely a shocker, but it is what it is and I’ll focus on the next race and I’m looking forward to that.”

Quah, who will be cheering on his teammate in the semis tonight, added: “It was definitely a very impressive swim. Caeleb’s swim is a damn impressive race, and it will definitely be a dog fight in the final so it’ll be interesting to watch.”