VIDEO: Joseph Schooling Said His 50.9 100 Fly Felt Monotonous

Before Joe’s post race interview he was overwhelmed with requests for autographs and selfies.  Austin Sectionals is a great meet, but not the most ideal setting to swim a world best time–and he was less than a tenth off of Dressel’s swim from U.S. World Trials.  Off camera Joe seemed happy with his 50.9, but he was aware of his crowded surroundings.  He said he’s looking forward to racing Dressel in a World Championship atmosphere. Joe’s into less than two weeks of rest, and he wants more.


Reported by Braden Keith

Joseph Schooling swam a 50.96 in the 100 fly on Saturday in his home pool in Austin. With 3 weeks to go before he represents Singapore at the World Championships, the swim can serve of a response of sorts (be it intentional or not) to his rival Caeleb Dressel, who swam a world-leading 50.87 at the United States’ World Championship Trials a week ago.

2016-2017 LCM Men 100 Fly

2Kristof
MILAK
HUN50.62*WJR07/29
3James
GUY
GBR50.6707/28
4Joseph
Schooling
SIN50.7807/28
5Laszlo
CSEH
HUN50.9207/29
View Top 28»

That time is the 3rd-best of Schooling’s career, and easily his best outside of a World Championship or Olympic Games. His previous in-season best was a 51.58 – done in early June last year in the buildup to the Olympics, where he dethroned Michael Phelps and won gold in the race.

Schooling took the race out in 23.7 and closed in 27.20. That means he split fairly similarly to what Dressel did last week, but opened a little faster. Ironically, Dressel, who is more known as a sprinter than is Schooling, had the better last 50.

First 50m Second 50m Final Time
Schooling Sectionals 23.76 27.20 50.96
Dressel Trials 23.87 27.00 50.87

Schooling and Dressel both hail from the Bolles program in Jacksonville, Florida, though Schooling attended the school and Dressel didn’t, so they were in different training groups. Both swimmers held the National High School Record in the 100 fly at different points in their parallel careers, though Dressel was more renowned for his 50 freestyle abilities. At the 2017 NCAA Championships, Dressel beat Schooling in his signature event, the 100 fly, and now the two will go toe-to-toe full bore in long course.

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Dcrabbe6
7 years ago

Why is he like this, he went 50.3 once… like ur not a god you can’t act like going sub 50 isn’t something to be proud of. When you’re Michael phelps and you’ve done it year in and year out,then you can act complacent. He’s such a pretentious little fellow.

Dcrabbe6
Reply to  Dcrabbe6
7 years ago

Sub 51*

Swimmer
7 years ago

A classic Texas like comment. The Texas swimmers are great at making these types of comments. Eddie has taught them well.

sven
7 years ago

50.9 while swimming alone is objectively good. We can have the argument all day long about whether clear water or competition is the bigger advantage, but this is going to be a very good race, regardless. I’m expecting Le Clos to be in the mix, as well.

Anonymous
7 years ago

Lol *zooms closer into Schooling’s face throughout the entire video*

Steve Nolan
7 years ago

bet loosing to dresel in the 100 fly again is gonna feel real monotonous in two weeks oooooooh snaaaaaap

Zemhaj
7 years ago

You know what else is monotonous? Joe Schooling constantly finding excuses after his races don’t meet the expectations he hyped up.

crooked donald
Reply to  Zemhaj
7 years ago

Especially when Conger, who just broke his NCAA record, is sitting right next to him in an interview. Classless.

That guy
7 years ago

Anyone else notice the guy walking backwards towards the end of the video?

Sir Swimsalot
Reply to  That guy
7 years ago

Haha hea

crooked donald
Reply to  That guy
7 years ago

Joe is so fast, he warps the time-space continuum.

yardfan
7 years ago

Caeleb will win. He has this amazing ability to pull it out of nowhere when needed.

Paul
Reply to  yardfan
7 years ago

I don’t understand the downvotes. You’re right, watching the videos of Caeleb winning US Nats and NCAA’s, he can really dig in the last 10m and just accelerates away from the field there. He has a fantastic start, stroke, turns, and closing speed. Incredible.

Bigly
Reply to  Paul
7 years ago

You don’t understand the fanboy phenomenon. As a primer, you should review the Dean Farris saga at NCAAs.

Uberfan
Reply to  Bigly
7 years ago

Or ASU’s swim team.

Uberfan
Reply to  yardfan
7 years ago

Yes that is why he won every race he entered at Nathanael’s

Hater of swimvortex
Reply to  Uberfan
7 years ago

Nathan Adrian: Excuse me?

crooked donald
Reply to  Uberfan
7 years ago

Uberman, you have the best all time autocorrect. Thumbs up from me.

About Gold Medal Mel Stewart

Gold Medal Mel Stewart

MEL STEWART Jr., aka Gold Medal Mel, won three Olympic medals at the 1992 Olympic Games. Mel's best event was the 200 butterfly. He is a former World, American, and NCAA Record holder in the 200 butterfly. As a writer/producer and sports columnist, Mel has contributed to Yahoo Sports, Universal Sports, …

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