But Schooling, after a warm reception from the Kuala Lumpur crowd, outclassed the field with a time of 23.06sec, beating his SEA Games record set in 2015 but outside his Asian mark. "Everyone's gotten faster really, so being able to come back and to win after a rough summer definitely means a lot to me," said the 22-year-old, who won by nearly a second ahead of Indonesia's Fauzi Sidiq.
"I was a little nervous going in, you never know how it's going to be. I felt pretty solid, I was happy with the way I felt. Usually I feel better throughout the meet so hopefully I can keep the ball rolling," he added.
Schooling, who could only take 100m butterfly bronze at the Budapest worlds, found himself in the firing line when he cheekily said he wanted to "teach (Malaysians) a thing or two", a remark for which he later apologised. He said he wasn't sure how he would be received by the crowd, but there was no booing as he was introduced on the first night of the swimming competition, where he is going for six titles.
"We're here to have a good meet and to put on a good show and I think the crowd wants to see that... they really pack the stands and come out and support all of us, so that's amazing," he said.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2017