Doha, Qatar, February 15, 2024: There would be no world record this time for China’s freestyle phenom Pan Zhanle in the men’s 100m at the World Aquatics Championships – Doha 2024 on Thursday night.
Instead, he had to settle for the title of men’s 100m freestyle world champion.
Pan, 19, set the world record of 46.80 seconds in the first leg of the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay on the opening night of swimming on Sunday – and this time he managed 47.53 in the men’s 100m freestyle final.
It was enough to win gold – and his first individual world title – ahead of Alessandro Miressi of Italy in 47.72, 0.19 seconds behind Pan, and Nandor Nemeth of Hungary, who took bronze in 47.78, 0.25 seconds behind the gold medal-winner from China.
Speaking in English, poolside after his second gold medal of Doha 2024, following his relay success, Pan said he had prepared really hard for this competition. “It was a great match - I made it,” he said.
“This is my first world championship title – and it is only the beginning. I will keep moving. Let’s meet in Paris,” he added, referring to the Olympic Games this summer.
It was China’s 19th gold medal of Doha 2024 and their third in swimming.
Newly crowned men’s 200m freestyle world champion Hwang Sun-woo of Korea was seeded third from the semi-finals but had to settle for fifth place in 47.93 seconds.
*In the last race of the night, China raced to gold in a thrilling women’s 4x200m freestyle relay, thanks largely to a superb third leg by Li Bingjie, who added gold to her two individual silvers earlier in the week.
China steamed to victory in 7 minutes, 47.26 seconds. Great Britain was second in 7:50.90, 3.64 seconds behind the Chinese, and Australia took bronze in 7:51.41, 4.15 seconds down.
China’s golden girls were Ai Yanhan, Gong Zhenqi, Li and Yang Peiqi, who was unchallenged as the anchor leg after Li’s sensational third leg.
“Our dreams came true,” said Ai. “I really appreciate all my teammates. This is unbelievable.”