Schooling beats his own 50m butterfly record, places 1st once again at SEA Games 2017

National swimmer and Olympic Gold Medalist Joseph Schooling set a new SEA Games record at his first swim event, the 50m butterfly, today while successfully defending his 50m butterfly title at the National Aquatic Centre at Bukit Jalil in Kuala Lumpur.

The 22-year-old beat his own 2015 SEA Games record of 23.49s with new record 23.06s. He came in first, with Indonesia’s Triady Fauzi Sidiq racing just behind, less than a second away at 24.01s.

Schooling’s time was a little slower than the Asian record for the 50m butterfly, which Schooling himself set at 22.95sec last month in the Fina World Championships in Budapest, Hungary. He had finished fifth in that race.

Singapore’s other 50m butterfly representative, Dylan Koo, came in at sixth place in a little over a second later, at 24.61s.

The texas-based champion told the media that he was happy with the results of the race, following the swim and that he hopes to do better at his upcoming events, such as the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay that is approaching. He said:

“The first swim is always a little nervy. But I am happy with the result, couldn’t have asked for a better start, and hopefully I will get better as the meet goes along.”