Swimming: Joseph Schooling ready to bounce back after NCAA wake-up call

SINGAPORE - Olympic champion Joseph Schooling has vowed to bounce back from the disappointment of failing to retain his 100- and 200-yard butterfly crowns at last week's NCAA Division I Men's Swimming and Diving Championships in Indiana.

The 21-year-old told Singapore media over Skype on Wednesday (March 29) that he will come back stronger at the Fina World Championships in Budapest.

He said: "Being sick doesn't take me off the fact that I didn't win my pet events, but I think it will spur me on to do better at the next meet ... right now I'm more motivated to get back to training because I don't want to get beaten like I did this past weekend.

"I'm back, I'm ready to start fighting again."

The University of Texas junior was second in the 100-yd butterfly final and crashed out of the heats of the 200-yd event owing to a stomach bug and fever.

Schooling will now set his sights on the July 14-30 World Championships, where he will swim four individual events - the 50m, 100m and 200m butterfly and the 100m freestyle.

There, the 100m butterfly Olympic gold medallist is also aiming to break the world record in the event.

"As far as preparations for the World Championships go, I don't think anything changes," he added.

"I'm getting back (in the water) earlier to kind of get a headstart and catch up on my preparation - I think that'll be good.

"I definitely have space to work on my training and be where I need to be at worlds."

This article was first published on Mar 29, 2017.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.