Singapore's Joseph Schooling clocked 1min 56.27sec in the men's 200m butterfly semi-final at the World Championships in Barcelona early Wednesday morning, re-writing his own national record.

His previous mark, a 1:56.67 effort, was set at the 2011 SEA Games in Indonesia.

The 18-year-old went out strong, keeping pace with Olympic champion Chad le Clos of South Africa and China's Wu Peng up until the last 50m, but lost out towards the last 20m.

The new personal best, however, was not good enough to propel the Singaporean to a place in the final. He finished 10th overall out of 16, needing a 1:56.10 at least to make the last eight.