SINGAPORE - Olympic champion Joseph Schooling has made it to this year's Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia, a set of lists released every year that recognises the most influential people across 10 industries, including the arts, enterprise technology and healthcare and science.

The 21-year-old Singaporean was chosen under the Entertainment and Sports category for winning the Republic's first Olympic gold medal in Rio last year.

He beat swimming greats Michael Phelps, Laszlo Cseh and Chad le Clos during the 100m butterfly final in Olympic record time of 50.39 seconds.

Other swimmers on the list include 22-year-old Japanese Kosuke Hagino, who won three medals - one of each colour - in Rio, and China's Fu Yuanhui, 20, whose surprised reaction to her 100m backstroke bronze-medal win during an interview with Chinese media went viral.

Schooling, a junior at the University of Texas, Austin, will be aiming to set a new world record in the 100m butterfly at the July 14-30 Fina World Championships in Budapest, Hungary.

The current world best mark of 49.82sec was set by 23-time Olympic champion Phelps in 2009.