Singapore's Darren Lim set a national short-course record in the 50m freestyle when he clocked 22.26secs in the morning heats at the Fina Swimming World Cup on Wednesday.
Yet, despite rewriting Arren Quek's 22.72sec effort clocked last year, 15-year-old Darren did not qualify for tonight's eight-man final. He finished 12th in the 42-swimmer field.
The fastest qualifier was Russia's Vladimir Morozov who timed 21.03.
Darren's compatriot Tao Li, who missed out on a place in the 100m fly final on Tuesday, made amends this morning by emerging as the second fastest in the 50m fly with a time of 25.96sec. Sweden's Sarah Sjoestroem was first in 25.88. Both will battle for the gold in tonight's final.