Schooling sets national record for 50m butterfly

Singapore swimmer Joseph Schooling got his world championships campaign in Kazan, Russia, off to a promising start yesterday, clocking a speedy 23.4sec in the men's 50m butterfly for the fifth-fastest time overall.

Swimming beside defending champion Cesar Cielo of Brazil, Schooling topped his heats. The Singaporean's timing is a new national record and personal best, and improves on his previous best of 23.43sec clocked at the Commonwealth Games last year. The timing qualified him for the semi-final late last night.

Schooling, 20, must be in the top eight of the semi-finals to earn a place in the final.

In other events, Quah Ting Wen clocked 1min 0.3sec in the women's 100m butterfly event to finish 36th out of 69 swimmers. She did not qualify for the semi-finals.

Teammate Danny Yeo posted a 3:57.44 in the men's 400m freestyle to finish 40th out of 58 swimmers, and did not qualify for the final.

Rachel Tseng swam in the women's 400m freestyle heats, clocking 4:19.97 to finish 33rd overall, but did not qualify for the final.

In the women's 4x100m freestyle relay, Quah, Amanda Lim, Tseng and Nur Marina Chan clocked a time of 3:51.10 to finish 18th overall. They did not qualify for the final.

In the men's 4x100m freestyle relay, Pang Sheng Jun, Quah Zheng Wen, Yeo and Lionel Khoo clocked 3:27.01 to finish 28th overall. They also did not qualify for the final.

maychen@sph.com.sg

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