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Singaporean swimmer Teong Tzen Wei defended his gold medal in the 50m butterfly at the 31st Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games) in Vietnam on Sunday (May 15).

Teong, 24, had previously clinched the gold medal in the same event at the SEA Games in 2019, narrowly beating out defending champion at the time and Olympic gold medalist Joseph Schooling.

This time around, Teong once again impressed with his swim, achieving a new SEA Games record that edged out Schooling's previous meet record.

Schooling scheduled to compete in the event but did not

The men's 50m butterfly competition took place on Sunday (May 15), with the heats occurring in the morning and the final round in the evening.

Schooling was originally slated to swim in the 50m butterfly heats but ended up not competing in the event.

Instead, his teammate Mikkel Jun Jie Lee — who made his SEA Games debut the day before in the men's 4x100m freestyle relay — replaced him.

Lee placed first in his heat with a time of 23.80 seconds, a personal best for him.

In the next heat, Teong led the pack with a time of 23.36 seconds, putting him in first position going into the finals, and with Lee in second position.

New personal best and SEA Games record

In the 50m butterfly finals, Teong emerged victorious with a time of 23.04 seconds, defending his 2019 win.

With that, he narrowly bested the record for the event of 23.06 seconds set by Schooling in 2017.

Lee was just half a body length behind Teong and clinched silver with a time of 23.67 seconds, setting yet another personal best for himself.

Indonesia's Glenn Victor Sutanto finished in third place behind the two Singaporeans, with a time of 24.30 seconds.

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Top photos by Andy Chua/SportSG via Teong and Singapore Swimming Association's Instagram posts.