Paris, France, July 31, 2024: China’s Pan Zhanle broke his own world record in the men’s 100m freestyle to win Olympic gold at Paris La Defense Arena on Wednesday evening.
Pan clocked 46.40 seconds to eclipse the time of 46.80 he set on the first leg of the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay at the World Aquatics Championships in Doha in February.
It was an incredible performance by Pan, as he beat Kyle Chalmers (Australia) by over a second. The Aussie clocked 47.48 for silver and David Popovici of Romania took the bronze in 47.49.
Pan said the gold medal meant more for China than it did for him personally.
“For me, I don’t think it means very much because life goes on. For Team China, I think it means a lot because it’s the first time a Chinese athlete has broken a world record at these Games,” he said in the post-race press conference.
“I think it’s a perfect performance, and it’s a performance that should be encouraging for China.”
Pan, 19, was asked if the attention on the positive doping tests of Chinese swimmers had affected him.
“Last year I received 29 tests, and it has never been positive. I was tested after the race and we will see the result. I don’t think there’s any impact because the testing has been done within the normal time frame,” he replied.