SINGAPORE - Swimmer Quah Zheng Wen got his 2016 campaign off to a positive note when he qualified for the men's 100m butterfly A final of the Arena Pro Swim Series in Austin, Texas on Friday evening (US time).

The 19-year-old clocked 53.33seconds in the final to finish eighth, with American Olympic star Michael Phelps winning the gold in a time of 51.94sec ahead of Tom Shields (52.39sec) and Tim Phillips (52.61sec) at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center.

Fellow Singaporean Joseph Schooling, who holds the Asian record of 50.96sec which he set en route to bronze medal at the World Championships last August, timed 54.10sec on Friday morning and posted the 14th fastest time.

He qualified for the B final which is on Friday evening but pulled out of the race.

In a Facebook post, Schooling, 20, said: "Gave my best this morning in the heats but still not 100% recovered. Spoke to (head coach) Eddie (Reese) and was advised to pull out from this evening's race.

"Kinda disappointed but most important thing today was to have a feel of the water and see how i fared.

"Nevertheless, glad that another Singaporean is doing us proud in the 100 fly. Good luck Quah Zheng Wen! Will be rooting for you and the other guys swimming tonight."

Both Schooling and Zheng Wen have qualified for the Olympic Games in Rio in August.

In the women's 100m fly, Singapore's Quah Ting Weng and Nur Marina Chan clocked 1:02.26 and 1:03.68 respectively and did not qualify for the finals.