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Zanle Pan competes in the men’s 4x100m freestyle final at the 2024 World Aquatics Championships in Doha, Qatar.
CNN
—
China’s 19-year-old swimming prodigy Pan Zhenle broke the men’s freestyle world record on Sunday, becoming the fastest 100-meter dash in history and establishing himself as a pacesetter for the upcoming Paris Olympics.
At the World Championships in Doha, Pan was the lead-off leg of the 4x100m relay that won the gold medal for the Chinese team, and he recorded an incredible time of 46.80 seconds in the 100m freestyle, making him one of the Romanian teenagers. This broke the previous world record of 46.86 seconds, held by David Popovich.
“Breaking the world record was natural. My goal now is to swim faster,” the Zhejiang native told reporters after the swim.
“I was surprised when I saw the time. I didn’t expect it to break. I wanted to keep it until the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
“This is an honor for me and a motivation for swimmers young and old. I think I can go faster than today’s time.”
Pan later told Chinese media that he was actually feeling well that day, although he had “a little fever,” and that he told his coaches that “there might be a surprise.”
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Chinese men’s 4x100m freestyle world championship gold medalists Wang Haoyu, Zhang Zhanshuo, Ji Xinjie, and Pan Zhenle.
Ban is the first Chinese man to hold a world record in this event. In the history of the 100m freestyle, only five people have broken the 47-second barrier.
Pang competed in the World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan a few months ago and was already the Asian record holder.
Pan, along with teammates Ji Xinjie, Zhang Zhanshuo and Wang Haoyu, helped China win the 4x100m relay gold medal at the Doha Olympics, while Italy and the United States won silver and bronze medals.
Only 16 years old, Zhang smashed the 50-second barrier in this event with a time of 48.62 seconds, with only the lead-off leg of the relay counting towards the official record time.
This was China’s first podium in this tournament.
National teammate Qin Haiyan set the current record in the 200m breaststroke at last year’s world championships.
The other two Chinese world record holders in history are Zhang Lin’s 2009 swimming 800m freestyle, which is still held, and compatriot Sun Yang’s controversial 1,500m freestyle swimming from 2012. is held.
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