Belo Horizonte (Brazil), March 8 (IANS): Beijing 2008 Olympic swimming champion Cesar Cielo has set the fastest time of the year in the 50m butterfly during the Metropolitan tournament in Brazil.

The 28-year-old clocked 23.28 seconds to beat countrymen Henrique de Souza (24.19) and Felipe de Souza 24.34) in Belo Horizonte on Saturday, reports Xinhua.

His time eclipsed the 23.49 set by Frenchman Florent Manaudou last month.

After the race, Cielo admitted he was surprised by the result given his almost-exclusive focus on freestyle training.

"I don't usually train for it (the butterfly)," said Cielo, who won Olympic gold in the 50m freestyle in Beijing.

"When I get to a competition I always have doubts about how I will go in it. I don't have much experience in terms of training and preparing for this event so it was a good swim."

Cielo added that the the result justified his decision to train at home instead of joining his national teammates at the Golden Tour in Marseilles.