Skip to main content

Advertisement

Advertisement

Schooling sets new national 200m butterfly record

SINGAPORE — It was the best performance he had achieved in his pet event, but it was not enough to earn United States-based national swimmer Joseph Schooling a place in the final of the men’s 200m butterfly at the FINA World Championship in Barcelona.

Joseph Schooling is ranked 10th overall in the 200m fly in the world championship. Today file photo

Joseph Schooling is ranked 10th overall in the 200m fly in the world championship. Today file photo

SINGAPORE — It was the best performance he had achieved in his pet event, but it was not enough to earn United States-based national swimmer Joseph Schooling a place in the final of the men’s 200m butterfly at the FINA World Championship in Barcelona.

The 18-year-old Singaporean swam a lung-busting 1min 56.27secs to finish sixth in the first semi-final at the Palau Sant Jordi last night (this morning, Singapore time).

It bettered the previous national mark of 1:56.67, which was also set by him at the 2011 South-east Asian (SEA) Games in Indonesia.

But it was not enough to see him into today’s final as he was ranked 10th overall, missing the eighth and final berth, which was taken by American Tom Luchsinger in 1:56.10.

Reigning Olympic champion Chad Le Clos of South Africa goes into today’s final at the Palau Sant Jordi as the fastest qualifier (1:55.33).

Earlier yesterday, Schooling reached the 200m fly semi-finals after clocking a time of 1:57.23 that saw him ranked fifth in Heat 2, and placed 14th overall out of 34 competitors from the morning’s heats, making the top-16 cut for the semi-finals.

Schooling’s performance was significantly better than his 200m fly heat at the London Olympics last year, when an official informed him minutes before his race that his cap and goggles were not approved, which distracted him as he eventually clocked 1:59.18, well off his then-personal best time of 1:56.67.

A student at Florida’s Bolles School, he has been in good form recently, winning the 200m fly (1:57.79) at the Arena Grand Prix in Charlotte, North Carolina, in May.

Meanwhile, team-mate Quah Ting Wen missed out on a semi-final berth in the women’s 200m freestyle after she clocked 2:02.57 in Heat 3 yesterday to finish 29th out of 45.

Schooling is in action again today for the 200m individual medley heats. Also racing in today’s heats are compatriots Danny Yeo (men’s 100m freestyle) and Quah in the 200m fly.

Read more of the latest in

Advertisement

Advertisement

Stay in the know. Anytime. Anywhere.

Subscribe to get daily news updates, insights and must reads delivered straight to your inbox.

By clicking subscribe, I agree for my personal data to be used to send me TODAY newsletters, promotional offers and for research and analysis.