Schooling gets better of Phelps to make 100m fly semis; Quah joins last-16

RIO DE JANEIRO – National swimmer Joseph Schooling fired an early warning to his rivals in the pool today (Friday morning, Aug 11), winning Heat 6 of the men’s butterfly in a time of 51.41sec – the fastest among the 43-strong field.

Swimming in Lane 5 beside American legend Michael Phelps, Schooling stormed home in 51.41s to claim top spot ahead of Phelps, who has already won three gold medals in Rio to take his current career tally to 21 Olympic gold.

This is the second time that Schooling has beaten Phelps in the 100m butterfly. The 21-year-old Singaporean defeated the American great in the 100m fly at the Longhorn Elite Invite Meet in Austin, Texas, two months ago.

Phelps has been unbeatable in the event at the Olympics since claiming gold in Athens in 2004.

But after giving Phelps a post-race pat on the shoulder, Schooling acknowledged that there will be more to come from his rival.

He said after the race: “Today, I was watching Michael, he’s taking it easy in the morning, talking in the waiting room, he seems relaxed. He knows he has the 200m IM (individual medley) final tonight, he knows what he needs to do so it’ll be a good race.”

Schooling is confident of a good showing in tonight’s semi-finals, as he added: “This feels like a morning swim, (it was) relaxed, easy. (My coach) Eddie Reese told me to put my head down the last four strokes but I breathed the last five to prove a point. I feel okay, not really tired, just ready for tonight, (and I plan to) keep focused.”

In what is a first for Team Singapore, two swimmers will feature in tonight’s semi-finals at the Olympic Games, after Quah Zheng Wen finished 16th to make the cut for the next round.

Competing in Heat 3, the 19-year-old finished second behind Britain’s James Guy in a new personal best time of 52.08sec to earn a spot in the semi-final. His previous best was 52.25 set at the 2015 FINA World Cup.

“I feel pretty happy, it’s a personal best,” said Zheng Wen who had narrowly missed out on a spot in the 200m butterfly final by 0.08sec earlier this week.

“I think I could have executed some things a little bit better so I’m just excited to get back tonight.

“I had a pretty good start, at the first 25m I was pretty far ahead, I just couldn’t finish as well as I would have liked, we’ll see how that goes.”

Schooling was the fastest qualifier in the 100m fly in 51.41sec, with Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh and American Tom Shields placed second and third in 51.52s and 51.58s respectively.

Phelps’ time of 51.60s saw him placing fourth among the group.

The men’s 100m butterfly semi-finals will be held at the Olympic Aquatic Stadium this morning (Singapore time) from 10.30am onwards.

Zheng Wen will swim alongside Phelps and Cseh in the first semi-final at 10.34am. He will be in Lane 8 while Phelps will be in Lane 4 and Cseh in Lane 5.

Schooling will be in the second semi-final at around 10.42am. He will be in Lane 4, competing alongside South Africa's Chad le Clos (Lane 6) who won silver in this event at the 2012 London Olympics.

CORRECTION: An earlier version mispelt the name of South African swimmer Chad le Clos as Chad le Close.