Schooling qualifies for Asian, Commonwealth Games in first race since Tokyo 2020
In his first race since Tokyo 2020 last August, Joseph Schooling showed little rust as he qualified for this year's Asian Games and Commonwealth Games during Wednesday's (March 16) 50m butterfly heats at the SNAG Major Games Qualifier.
The 26-year-old, who enlisted for national service on Jan 3, clocked 23.78 seconds in the morning race at the OCBC Aquatic Centre. It was comfortably within the 24.35sec needed to earn his place at the Sept 10-25 Asiad in Hangzhou, China and just under the 23.96sec required for the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham from July 28-Aug 8.
Schooling said: "It's good to be back racing and even better to qualify for the Asian Games. It has a very special place in my heart and I can't ask for a better start to the week."
His personal best and national record is 22.93, set at the 2017 World Championships. He won gold in this event at the 2018 Asian Games in 23.61.
He also swam in the 100m freestyle heats but clocked 50.49sec, slower than the Asian Games qualifying mark of 49.28 sec.
Schooling will not race in Wednesday's evening finals. He withdrew to prepare for the 100m fly heats on Thursday.
His last competitive outing had been the Olympic Games where he failed to defend his 100m fly title, finishing last in his heats in 53.12sec and ranking 44th out of 55 swimmers.
He had initially been scheduled to compete at the Swim Series II here in February but pulled out due to a back injury.
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