Schooling sets second national mark at Commonwealth Games

SINGAPORE – Leading Singapore national swimmer Joseph Schooling has set his second national record at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, clocking 52.22secs in the men’s 100m butterfly in the semi-finals on Sunday (this morning, July 28, Singapore time).

The 19-year-old bettered his previous national benchmark of 52.33secs which was set at last year’s ARENA Grand Prix in Charlotte in the United States.

Schooling is the third best qualifier for the 100m fly final which takes place at the Tollcross Swimming Centre on Monday (tomorrow morning, Jul 29, Singapore time). England’s Adam Barrett was the fastest qualifier in 52.00secs, followed by South Africa’s Chad le Clos (52.12secs).

It was a positive response from the United States-based butterfly specialist who finished in eight-place in the 200m fly final yesterday in 1min 59.09secs, well off his national record of 1min 56.27secs.

It was also his second national record set in Glasgow, after timing 23.43secs in the 50m fly heats last Thursday.

Meanwhile, Singapore’s two-time Asian Games champion Tao Li timed 26.26secs to finish fifth in the 50m butterfly final on Sunday (this morning, Singapore time).

England’s Francesca Halsall took gold in a new Games’ record time of 25.20secs. Arianna Vanderpool Wallace of Bahamas was second (25.53secs), while Brittany Elmslie of Australia took bronze (25.91secs).