SINGAPORE — Having moved to the United States to join the University of California, Berkeley (UCB) only in January, Singapore swimmer Quah Zheng Wen had barely three months to gear up for this year’s National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division 1 Men’s Swimming Championships.

Yet, despite the short time he had to prepare for the meet, the 20-year-old still managed to put on an impressive showing on his debut at the competition.

He finished fifth in the 100-yard butterfly before clinching a silver medal in the 200-yard butterfly.

In addition, his timing of 1min 38.83sec in the 200-yard final was also the third fastest in the competition’s history — only Olympic gold medallists Jack Conger of the US and fellow Singaporean Joseph Schooling have posted faster times in the event.

But ex-national swim coach Sergio Lopez is not surprised at Quah’s achievement.

The Spaniard, who mentored Quah during his 20-month stint in charge of the Singapore swim team, told TODAY he always knew his former protege had the ability to go toe-to-toe with the best swimmers in the world.

Speaking on the sidelines of a swimming clinic that he conducted for Aquatech Swim School at St Joseph’s Institution International on Tuesday afternoon (April 4), Lopez, who is now the head coach of Auburn University’s swim team, said: “Having coached him for 18 months, I know exactly how much ability Zheng Wen has … he’s a world-class swimmer.

“I think he was perhaps a little bit lost in his first event (100-yard backstroke), but that’s normal because it’s not easy to suddenly adapt to a short course meet that is measured in yards.

“But he bounced back well and, given the short period of time that he had to adapt to a new school, training team, and country, he did a very good job in the 200-yard fly.

“However, I know how much talent he has, so the way he performed at the NCAA wasn’t surprising to me, and in fact, I think he could have gone even faster.”

Quah, who is currently training under four-time NCAA Coach of the Year David Durden at UCB, will now turn his attention to this July’s Fina World Championships in Budapest, Hungary. He previously stated that his goal for the competition was to reach at least one final, although he has yet to confirm which events he will be competing in.

“I’m definitely hoping to be in the final at the World Championships this year,” Quah had said.

“I want to see where I’m at. If all goes well, I’d train for as long as I can with the (college) team, before joining the Singapore team in Budapest.”

So far, the only Singaporean to win a medal at that competition is Schooling, who secured a bronze in the 100m fly in 2015.

Then Quah, who was making his debut in the competition, took part in four events — the 100m freestyle, the 200m fly, as well as the 50m and 100m backstroke.

He did not advance beyond the heats in all of them.

When asked if Quah could potentially upset the odds and achieve a podium finish this time around, Lopez declined to make any predictions.

“It’s not my place to put any expectations on him, because I’m not his coach anymore,” said the former Olympic bronze medallist.

“I don’t know what he wants, what his plans are or how he’s training.

“All I know is that he’s one of the best in the world, and I still think that he could have been in the top five at the Rio Olympic Games.

“So if he tells you that he wants to reach the final … then who am I to say otherwise?”