Schooling breaks own 100m butterfly meet mark
He's on track for Asiad, clocking 52.43 in his first race in S'pore since 2015
Joseph Schooling believes that he is on track for the upcoming Asian Games, as he kicked off his first meet on home soil since 2015 by winning the 100m butterfly at the 14th Neo Garden Singapore National Swimming Championships last night.
Putting nerves aside, the Olympic champion clocked 52.43 seconds to rewrite the record of 53.59 that he set six years ago, ahead of Australians Matthew Temple (52.59) and Bowen Gough (53.20).
At March's NCAA, Schooling took part in the 100-yard (44.68) and 200-yard butterfly events (1min 43.34sec).
But there wasn't a 100m fly there. The last major competition that he competed in the 100m butterfly was at last July's Fina World Championships, where he clocked 50.83.
The 23-year-old revealed yesterday that the 200m freestyle could be added to his repertoire of five events for the Games from Aug 18 to Sept 2.
Schooling said: "I'd like to be a little faster. We're in hard training right now and it's my first long-course meet since the worlds last year.
"It's good. Physically, I'm getting there, trying to get my flexibility back, something that I've lost the last two years. I feel a lot better.
"Mentally, I'm great. I'm happy to see all my friends, see all my family."
Schooling was not the only swimmer to set a meet record yesterday.
Physically I'm getting there, trying to get my flexibility back, something that I've lost the last two years. I feel a lot better.Olympic champion Joseph Schooling
Gan Ching Hwee eclipsed the meet's previous 800m free record of 8min 53.74sec set by Lynette Lim with her personal- best of 8:49.33 to come out top.
The victory came unexpectedly for the 14-year-old, who felt unwell in the morning.
The race started out closely, but Ching Hwee steadily pulled ahead as it progressed, to clinch the gold ahead of Ammiga Himathongkom of Thailand (9:01.80) and Australia's Georgina Winters (9:13.48).
She said: "I'm definitely very happy. It was quite surprising because I wasn't feeling so well in the morning, but I just came into this meet wanting to do my best."
She believes that her performance is crucial ahead of her Asian Games debut and her bid to qualify for October's Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
The 2017 SEA Games bronze medallist said: "It definitely helps me to boost my confidence, see where I am now and how well my training has been and how I've progressed since March."
Meanwhile, Lionel Khoo bettered his own meet record (1:02.77) set last year in the 100m breaststroke with yesterday's time of 1 : 02.76.
But he had to settle for the bronze as he came in behind Australia's Samuel Williamson (1:02.06) and India's Sandeep Sejwal (1:02.33).
This year's national swimming championships, which see 160 foreigners competing in the 510-strong field, continue today and tomorrow.
On Wednesday, another Singaporean, Glen Lim, 16, lowered his record in the 800m freestyle as he finished third in the event in 8min 15.08sec, behind Indonesia's Aflah Prawira (8:07.50) and India's Advait Page (8:10.22).
Glen's previous mark was 8:18.21 set in Perth last year.
Get The New Paper on your phone with the free TNP app. Download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store now
