Teong gunning for gold and Schooling's 50m free record

Ang Peng Siong's 50m freestyle national record of 22.69 seconds had stood for 33 years before Joseph Schooling broke it with a 22.47sec swim at the 2015 SEA Games on home ground.

Now, swimmer Teong Tzen Wei is aiming to set a new 50m free mark at the biennial Games in Kuala Lumpur, and take home the gold, on his Games debut, no less.

Ironically, it was Schooling's groundbreaking feat in the 100m butterfly in Rio last year - he won the country's first Olympic gold medal - that inspired the 20-year-old Teong to aim high.

"After Joseph won the Olympic gold, he really changed the outlook in swimming. Everyone is thinking very big," Teong told The New Paper.

"Now we're aiming for Commonwealth Games, Asian Games, and asking when we are going to the Olympics."

"It's something all of us can chase," added the swimmer, who is also aiming for the Commonwealth Games 2018 qualifying mark of 22.93sec for this event.

Along with AquaTech Swimming clubmate Darren Lim, Teong will compete in the blue-riband event in the Malaysian capital.

This time around, Schooling has been pencilled in for just three individual events - the 50m and 100m fly, and the 100m free.

Teong is Singapore's top swimmer in the 50m free this year, clocking 22.93sec to win the Singapore National Age-Group (Seniors) Swimming Championships in March.

His ascent is all the more remarkable given that he did not train at all last year, due to National Service and the International Baccalaureate exams before that.

He said: "For the entire year I was caught up with NS, and didn't swim at all.

"It's not that I didn't want to train, but I really couldn't (due to my NS courses).

"But I'm excited about what I can do at my debut."

Teong hopes to repay the people who have been instrumental in his progress, with a performance they can be proud of.

He said: "My mum told me when she was pregnant with me, she used to swim a lot, so ever since I was born, I spent plenty of time in the pool.

"Eventually, my parents realised I had a lot of interest in swimming, but they never put much pressure on me to swim.

"I wouldn't be swimming if it wasn't for coach Richard (Chng, AquaTech head coach) and Gary (Tan, National Training Centre head coach).

"I have great support from my coaches and family."