S’pore’s Schooling makes 200m butterfly semis at World Swimming Championship

SINGAPORE -- United States-based Singapore national swimmer Joseph Schooling has qualified for the semi-finals of the men’s 200m butterfly at the FINA World Championship in Barcelona.

At the Palau Sant Jordi today (July 30), the 18-year-old touched the wall in 1min 57.23secs in Heat 2, which was won by Russia’s Nikolay Skvorlsov in 1:56.47.

Schooling’s time saw him make the top-16 cut for the semi-finals in 14th place. The fastest qualifier was American Tyler Clary (1:56.03), with London Olympics gold medallist Chad Le Clos of South Africa the second fastest in 1:56.21.

Also in action today was Schooling’s team-mate Quah Ting Wen, who failed to reach the semi-final of the women’s 200m freestyle.

The 20-year-old Singaporean clocked 2:02.57 in Heat 3 today (July 30) to finish 29th out of 44 competitors.

Frenchwoman Camille Muffat was the fastest qualifier in 1:56.53, with Canada’s Barbara Rojas-Jardin taking the 16th and final semi-final berth in 1:58.93.