For the first time since his debut at the 2013 FINA World Championships, Olympic champion Joseph Schooling returned home from last week's competition with no medal to show for.

Felt like he had "no speed"

The FINA World Championships was held from July 12 to 28, 2019 at Gwangju, South Korea.

On Friday, July 26, he finished 24th overall with the time of 52.93s in his pet event, the 100m butterfly, and was just 0.49s shy of qualifying for the semi-finals.

He also failed to qualify for the 50m butterfly semi-finals.

He told The Straits Times that after the event, he felt like he had "no speed and there was nothing behind [his] stroke."

Schooling was the first Singaporean to win an Olympic gold medal.

He won in the men's 100m butterfly at the Rio Olympics in 2016.

Can go way faster

But the 24-year-old is not yet ready to give up.

He told ST:

"Absolutely, without a doubt, I believe I can do these times. If I didn't think so, I wouldn't be out there and doing this.

I definitely can go way faster... I have full faith in myself.

He added that he just needs to "keep [his] head down", keep working, and to listen to his coaches.

Stood by decision to move back to Singapore

Schooling also stood by his decision to move back to Singapore from the United States in February to work with Sephan Widmer, Singapore head coach, and the national swim team, saying that he knew of the risk involved that comes with a change to a new environment.

Swimming is the "hardest sport in the world", and it is easier when you work with people with whom you are excited about, ST reported him as saying.

He added that he and his team are going to "pull out all the stops" in the next 12 months, to go back to basics and what worked for him.

"I spent the last three years working my butt off, now I just need to connect the pieces of the puzzle," he said.

The swimming competitions for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics are set to be held in July next year.

Schooling's sponsorship deals have increased since he turned pro in March last year.

Some of his sponsors include Hugo Boss, Nestle, Tag Heuer and DBS Bank.

Top image adapted via Joseph Schooling's Facebook