Quah: I was expecting to do well

Even after finishing fifth in his men's 200m butterfly heat at the Fina World Championships yesterday, Singapore swimmer Quah Zheng Wen believed he still stood a chance of qualifying for this morning's (Singapore time) semi-finals.

There were two more heats to go, and he was hoping that his 1min 56.76sec effort would be enough for a place in the top 16.

Alas, it was not to be.

The 20-year-old finished 18th overall, an agonising 0.05sec slower than the slowest qualifier, Leonardo de Deus of Brazil.

It was a big blow to Quah, who had considered this event as his best chance of making a final in Budapest, Hungary.

"I am disappointed especially to miss out on the semi-finals for the 200m fly," said the UC Berkeley undergraduate, who had targeted a top-three finish in his heat.

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"I was expecting to do well... there is nothing more I can do but to forget about what has happened.

THREE MORE EVENTS

"I still have three events and I am sure I will learn from this and will get better in the next few days."

Quah, who competed in the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, was aiming to make at least the semi-finals of the 200m fly, having finished 10th in this event at the Rio Olympics last year.

I was surprised to see that I came in fifth. Quah Zheng Wen

Then, he clocked 1:56.01 in the heats, and 1:56.11 in the semi-finals.

Quah also said that he was surprised by yesterday's result, as he had felt good throughout the race.

He said: "I felt strong the whole way through, although I feel like I could have gone harder.

"I was surprised to see that I came in fifth, because at the 150m mark I had a glance underwater, and I saw myself right up there with the top guys.

"I had a pretty good idea of where I was during the race."

Quah added that he wasn't conserving his energy for the semi-finals.

"I wouldn't say that I was saving myself (for the semi-finals), I definitely felt strong the whole way, but I think I still had a little bit more left," he said.

"It wasn't a conscious effort to slow down."

Home favourite Laszlo Cseh topped the heats in this event with 1:54.08, followed by Japan's Daiya Seto (1:54.89) and Denmark's Viktor Bromer (1:55:13), while the 2012 Olympic champion, South Africa's Chad le Clos, was fifth overall with 1:55.90.

Quah was the only Singaporean competing in this event yesterday.

Teammate Joseph Schooling, the only other Singaporean swimmer at this year's world championships, was pencilled in for this event but withdrew before the swimming competition started.

Schooling, 22, will compete in the 100m freestyle heats today, as well as the 100m fly preliminaries on Friday, while Quah will take to the pool again tomorrow in the men's 200m back heats.