Joseph Schooling Sets New Asian Record in 100 Fly Semifinals

2016 RIO OLYMPIC GAMES

• Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• Swimming: August 6-13
• Olympic Aquatics Stadium, Barra Olympic Park, Rio de Janeiro
• Prelims – 9:00 a.m/12:00 p.m PST/EST (1:00 p.m local), Finals – 6:00 p.m/9:00 p.m PST/EST (10:00 p.m local)
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Tonight, en route to his first-seed finish in the semifinals of tonight’s 100 fly, Singapore’s Joseph Schooling, who lives and trains at the University of Texas during the school year, broke the Asian and Singaporean record. He finished .6 ahead of the closest competitor, hitting the wall in 50.83.

See Schooling’s splits below:

• 23.81 (RT: .61)
• 27.62 (50.83)

Schooling held the previous record as well, a 50.96 that won him the bronze medal a year ago at the FINA World Championships in Kazan.

After tonight, Schooling is the fastest swimmer in the world this year, but tomorrow, he will take on both Laszlo Cseh of Hungary and Michael Phelps, who built his way to second place in semifinal two after hitting the turn last of his heat. (He had a quick turnaround after an emotional 200 IM win). Also in the field and fighting for a medal will be Chad le Clos and Tom Shields.