SINGAPORE - Swimming in his pet event, Joseph Schooling powered his way to finish fourth in his 100m butterfly semi-final and seventh overall on Friday evening while setting a new national mark with a 51.40 sec effort at the Fina World Championships in Kazan, Russia.
That erased the earlier record he set during the heats Friday morning when he clocked 51.65, which in turn eclipsed the 51.69 national record he set when he won a silver at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games last year.
Quick off the blocks, the Singaporean switched on his turbo to be the fastest overall at the split in his semi-final (23.83).
But as he bore down towards the wall, he was pipped by a late burst from Hungarian Lazlo Cseh.
But the man to beat on Saturday night in Kazan, Russia, is American Tom Shields, who was timed 51.03, but he topped the semi-finals ahead of Cseh,has an identical time, by virtue of a faster split (23.93 against 24.13).
South Africa powerhouse Chad le Clos was third (51.11).
In the women's 50m butterfly heats yesterday morning, Quah Ting Wen finished 37th out of 64 competitors with a time of 27.58.