It’s been a rollercoaster ride in Rio de Janeiro so far for national swimmer Joseph Schooling. Representing Singapore in this year’s Olympics, the 21-year-old smashed his previous national record of 48.58s from last year’s SEA Games when he took second place out of eight swimmers in Heat 6 of the 100m freestyle event, clocking in a time of 48.27s. That qualified him for the semi-finals as the sixth fastest swimmer.
The first three were Australia’s Kyle Chalmers (47.9s), Caeleb Dressel (47.91) repping the United States, and Britain’s Duncan Scott (48.01s).
Alas, when the semi-final came around — it was held on Tuesday evening in Rio, which was Wednesday 9.03am Singapore time — our country’s pride and joy clocked 48.7s to finish eighth in his race and 16th overall. Only the top eight swimmers made it to the final.
But no worries — Schooling still has his pet event, the 100m butterfly, on Thursday. We’ll be rooting for him.
