Swimming: Joseph Schooling wins Singapore's first ever medal at the World Championships

Schooling poses with his bronze medal. PHOTO: REUTERS
(From left) Hungary's Laszlo Cseh, Chad le Clos of South Africa, and Singapore's Joseph Schooling pose with their medals after the men's 100m butterfly final. PHOTO: REUTERS

SINGAPORE - Swimmer Joseph Schooling made history on Saturday when he became the first Singaporean to win a medal at the Fina World Championships.

The 20-year-old clocked 50.96sec in the 100m butterfly event to finish third behind defending champion Chad le Clos (50.56sec) of South Africa and Hungary's Laszlo Cseh (50.87sec) at the Kazan Arena in Russia.

Schooling's time was a new Asian record, lowering the mark of 51.00 set by Japan's Kohei Kawamoto in 2009.

This was Schooling's second final at the biennial meet. He had finished seventh in the 50m free on Monday.

His appearance in the last-eight was the first time a local male swimmer had advanced that far since Ang Peng Siong finished fourth in the 50m freestyle at the 1986 edition in Madrid.

Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.