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World C'ships: Joseph Schooling smashes 50m fly Asian record twice en route to final

BUDAPEST — National swimmer Joseph Schooling has qualified for the finals of the men’s 50m butterfly at the Fina World Championships in Budapest with a time of 22.93s.

Joseph Schooling has set himself a new target of clinching gold in the 50m and 100m butterfly at the Fina swimming championships in Budapest. Photo: Reuters

Joseph Schooling has set himself a new target of clinching gold in the 50m and 100m butterfly at the Fina swimming championships in Budapest. Photo: Reuters

BUDAPEST National swimmer Joseph Schooling has qualified for the finals of the men’s 50m butterfly at the Fina World Championships in Budapest with a time of 22.93s.

The 22-year-old set a new national and Asian record for the second time in a day with his effort which enabled him to finish third in his semi-final and qualify fifth overall for the final which will be held on Tuesday morning (July 26, Singapore time).

Schooling had first set a new Asian and national mark of 23.05sec in the heats earlier on Sunday morning (Singapore time) at the Duna Arena.

Schooling, who won gold in the 100m fly at the Rio Olympics, is on the hunt for two gold medals in the 50m and 100m fly in Budapest.

But it could be a tough challenge for him in Tuesday's 50m final if one goes by the timings of the top three swimmers.

American Caeleb Dressel, who beat Schooling in the 100-yards butterfly at the NCAA Championships in March iand also broke his record will enter the final as the fastest qualifier. He clocked 22.76sec while Ukraine's European champion Andrii Govorov was second fastest in 22.76sec. Brazil's 37-year-old veteran Nicholas Santos wrapped up the top three with his time of 22.84sec.

After the race, Schooling said he felt he had a good day in the pool. He said in the mixed zone: "I thought it was good, pretty solid, two best times, a little long in the finish, really long, after I took that last stroke, I didn’t really know where I was going to be. I’m just happy to get under 23sec."

He also revealed that his focus on Sunday was strictly on making the 50m final.

"I’m really not thinking about tomorrow’s race at this point. My only goal coming back was to make top eight, that was my main goal for tonight," he said.

"I’ve finished my job for today, I’m going to go back, take a shower, chill, eat with my teammates, and tomorrow’s another day. I’ll focus on it tomorrow, but for now I’m satisfied.

However, even though he is going into Tuesday's final as the fifth-ranked swimmer, Schooling is feeling confident of his chances of winning his first gold at the world meet.

"I’m excited, the most important thing is to make top eight, which I managed to do and it’s anyone’s game tomorrow," he reiterated. 

"Caeleb’s good, 22.7, Andrii next to me was 22.72 that was fast. I got to go back and look at the race video, I don’t know where I was, especially after that last stroke. But I’ll find some things to improve on for tomorrow.

"I tried a different game plan (in the semis). I don’t know honestly, that’s the first time I did this breathing pattern for today and being the first time I wasn’t too comfortable with it, but I think if I can nail that, it’ll be very exciting.

"There’re some big guys next to me, but at the end of the day, you’ve got the lane and you’ve got some space. It really doesn’t matter."

The men’s 50m butterfly final will be held on Tuesday (July 25), 12.17am, Singapore time.

Meanwhile, TODAY has learnt that Schooling has withdrawn from the 200m butterfly heats, one of four events he was scheduled to compete in at the world meet besides the 50m and 100m butterfly and the 100m freestyle. He withdrew from the event before the first day of competition. He had done the same at the Rio Olympics en route to winning the 100m fly gold.

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