Chinese teen Pan smashes men’s 100m freestyle record at World Aquatics Championships, as team win 4x100m gold
- Pan Zhanle sets mark of 46.80 seconds swimming first leg of relay, knocking 0.06 seconds off previous best
- 19-year-old hails incredible time by says he wanted to keep achievement ‘for the Paris Olympics’
Chinese teenager Pan Zhanle broke the men’s 100m freestyle world record with a time of 46.80 seconds at the world championships in Doha on Sunday.
Pan achieved the new mark leading off his team during the 4x100m freestyle relay to set up teammates Ji Xinjie, Zhang Zhanshuo and Wang Haoyu to seal gold for China in three minutes, 11:08 seconds.
The 19-year-old shaved 0.06 sec off the previous record of 46.86 achieved by Romanian David Popovici at the European championships in Rome in August 2022.
“Yeah, it was an incredible time. I trusted my friends and we did our best,” Pan said. “I said to myself ‘swim hard’. I was shocked when I saw the time, I didn’t expect to break the world record now, I wanted to keep it for the Paris Olympics.”
Italy took silver in 3:12.08 and the United States bronze in 3:12.29.
Before these worlds Pan had only one world medal, silver in the 4x100m medley relay last year in Fukuoka, Japan.
