Joseph Schooling will be sticking to his bread and butter events at the 2015 FINA World Championships, as entry lists show him only in the 50m, 100m, and 200m butterflies. On one hand this, this isn’t all that surprising. He’s garnered attention largely for his butterfly prowess, having set the national high school record in the 100 fly while a senior at Bolles High School, and kicking off his NCAA career by sweeping the 100 and 200 fly events as a freshman and helping the Texas Longhorns win this year’s national championship.
However, the reason that his schedule is interesting is because Schooling, who represents Singapore internationally, generated some headlines with his performances in other events in June at the Southeast Asia Games, where he won nine gold medals. There, not only did he win all three butterfly events, but he also won the 50m and 100m freestyles and the 200 IM, as well as leading Singapore to victories in all three relays. As a result, there was some speculation that he might try to branch out beyond the butterfly events here in Kazan.
While it would have been interesting to see what Schooling could have done in the 100 free or 200 IM fully-tapered, it makes sense that he’s sticking with the butterfly. The 48.58 he swam for the 100 free might have been enough to get him to the final here if he could repeat it, but his chances were slimmer in 50 free, 200 IM, or 200 free (he led off the 4×200 relay at the Southeast Asia Games in a 1:47.79, which was a meet record).
Meanwhile, Schooling should not only easily make the finals in both the 100 and 200 fly, but he also has a good chance of earning a medal in at least one of those events. He’s the ninth-seed in the 100 fly, with an entry time of 51.69, and the 12th-seed in the 200 fly, with a time of 1:55.73. He’ll have to square off against defending champion Chad le Clos in both of those, among plenty of other veterans, but Schooling should be one of several swimmers in the mix for minor medals.
If anyone out there was pining to see what Schooling could do in the freestyles next week, all is not lost. Singapore, led by Schooling’s former Bolles coach Sergio Lopez, has entries for all three men’s relay, as well as both mixed relays, meaning that Schooling could very well end up getting a chance to swim the 100 and 200 freestyle in some capacity.
There are a few candidates at this meet who can break out with a Popov 1992 type meet…from who is he again?…to wow, that was incredible. Schooling is one those candidates. But let’s let em swim and enjoy it. I am really pulling for Shields to throw down a big 100 fly. The best race he has inside may come out next week and it will be very special to see.
Smart decision from Schooling.
It looks like after Sea Games he went back to Texas. This was a smart move on his part because training with Conger is all good.
Good question! Sometimes freshman go home their first summers.
48.58 will NOT get you to final in Kazan. In fact, it might not even be enough to semis.
come on, now … even in London a sub 49 swim got you to semis … in Barcelona 2013, 49.30 was enough ….
it was 48.4 for finals in 2013
I would not be shocked if he beats Le Clos in both fly events.
It will not happen.
He should use worlds as part of a two step process in order to take the fight to Le Clos in Rio. Le Clos is way out in front of him as we speak. He needs to get a lot closer just to pick up the scent of victory.
51.25
1:54.80
If times are the only thing you are interested in then you don’t even need to watch the events for Schooling:
100m fly 51.45
200m fly 1:54.82