Doha, Qatar, February 11, 2024: The opening night of the World Aquatics Championships – Doha 2024 swimming competition produced a world record time by a Chinese swimmer.
Swimming the first leg of the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay, Pan Zhanle clocked 46.80 seconds.
Pan, 19, swam the first 50 in 22.26 seconds and the second 50 in 24.54 seconds to touch in 46.80. China built on Pan’s fast start through Ji Xinjie, Zhang Zhanshuo and Wang Haoyu to secure gold in 3:11.08, ahead of Italy in 3:12.08 and the United States in 3:12.29 .
Pan took 0.06 seconds off Romanian David Popovici’s previous world record for the men’s 100 free of 46.86 from 2022.
"Yeah, that was an incredible time. I trusted my friends and we did our best," Pan said in an interview poolside after the race, according to Olympics.com.
After the race, Pan told media: "Actually, I wasn't feeling in great form. I would've been happy with just getting on the podium.
“This morning in the heats, the U.S., Great Britain and Italy were all quicker than us, and I just wanted to focus on doing my job well.
"I told myself, ‘just swim hard’. I was shocked when I saw the time; I wasn't expecting to break the record now – I wanted to leave it for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games."
Pan won three gold, three silver and one bronze medal at the Hangzhou Asian Games last year.