Olympic gold medallist Joseph Schooling broke an eight-year old US meet record when he won the 50 freestyle final in the 2017 Big 12 Swimming and Diving Championships at Lee & Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center, University of Texas on Friday (SGT).
The Singapore swimmer, who is doing his university studies in Texas, clocked 18.76s eclipsing the previous record-mark at the Big 12 set by two-time Olympic champion Jimmy Feigen at the 2009 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCCA) Championships, according to the College Swimming.
Notably, the Rio Olympic champion in the 100m butterfly event, now has five school records against his name. Schooling edged past his teammates Jack Conger (19.27s) and Brett Ringgold (19.29s) to finish on the top step of the podium.
Earlier in the day, Schooling also equalled a 13-year-old mark of five-time Olympic medallist Ian Crocker by clocking 19.18s in the preliminary round. The six-time NCCA champion's next event will be the 100m butterfly preliminary round, starting later tonight, according to a Straits Times report.
Schooling has a big year ahead in 2017 as he has already set his eyes on the Fina World Championships in Budapest in July and the SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur. The swimmer, who competed at nine events at the 2015 SEA Games in Singapore, will reportedly take part in lesser events in the upcoming edition as it comes just a month after the World Championships.
