SINGAPORE — In the past week, Joseph Schooling held the attention of Singapore as he made a bid to win a first medal for the Republic at the FINA World Swimming Championships in Kazan. That and the excitement of his success in finally landing bronze in the 100m fly dominated the headlines and left team-mate Quah Zheng Wen in the shadows.

Like Schooling, the 18-year-old has been granted deferment from National Service from the Ministry of Defence to focus on next year’s Rio Olympics but his performances in three events — 200m fly, 100m free and 100m backstroke — only yielded a national record in the backstroke.

Yesterday in Moscow, Quah made some amends at the FINA Swimming World Cup when he won bronze in the 100m backstroke with a time of 54.03s, which was within the Olympics ‘A’ qualifying mark. It will be his second event for Rio after he also made the grade for the 200m fly at the SEA Games here in June.

But questions remain if he will be in contention for a medal at Rio as his best times are still more than a second off from the top swimmers for the 100m back and two seconds for the 200m fly.

In the run-up to the Olympics, Quah said he is working to improve his timings and that competing with the best in Russia has given him a gauge of how much work needs to be done.

“I believe that swimming in high-level meets like the World Championships and World Cup will give me the experience that is needed to compete with the best,” he said last night. “I also will need to analyse my race and work on improvements in order to go faster and be prepared for Rio 2016.”

Singapore national head coach Sergio Lopez has not sounded the alarm and said he was happy with Quah’s progress so far.

“I am very happy with what he achieved (in Moscow),” he told TODAY. “Since he broke the national record in the Spanish Open in April, he has continued to go on faster in each competition and today, he has made the Olympic ‘A’ mark. I think just looking at how he is progressing, it shows how much hard work he has put in to be where he is today. I am confident that he will continue to go faster.”

Former Singapore coach Ang Peng Siong, who was the fastest man in the world in the 50m free in 1982, said Quah’s performances at the World Championship last week were commendable.

“He definitely has room for improvement,” Ang told TODAY. “He set 12 personal best times at the SEA Games and is still improving. That in itself is a positive sign and another positive factor is his age when you compare it to the whole field.

“He needs consistency and continuity in his training in the build up to the Rio Games and Tokyo four years later. These will be key to his success on the world stage, but he also has a great team supporting him, coaches Sergio and Gary (Tan), his parents and Singapore Swimming.”

Olympian David Lim, who was Singapore’s leading backstroke swimmer in the 1980s, added that Quah needs a good run of results at the World Cup series in which he has entered for five events in the 100m free, 50m back, 100m back, 50m fly and 100m fly. The next leg is in Paris on Aug 15-16.

“He needs to have a lot of high-quality meets right now in the lead-up to the Olympics,” said Lim, who formerly coached Quah at the Swimfast Aquatic Club.

“Zheng Wen is hardworking and has improved a lot in the past year, and a lot of things can happen in another year with full-time training. The most important thing is to qualify for the events he want to for the Olympics, and then focus on them and train hard.”