Nagoya, Japan, September 20, 2026: Olympic champion Pan Zhanle sounded a warning to his rivals in the men’s 100 metre freestyle at the Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026 on Sunday as the world record holder moved ominously into the final.
Pan, who won gold in this event in Hangzhou three years ago, made a cautious start and trailed Korea's Hwang Sun-woo at the turn before accelerating during the second half of the two-length sprint to finish first in a time of 48.07 seconds.
“It was very good,” the 22-year-old said of his opening swim. “The first 50 I controlled my speed and the second 50 I went max, powerful. I think tonight I will be better.”
Pan’s time was well outside the world record he set to win Olympic gold at Paris 2024, but it was enough to see him qualify as fastest for the final, 0.06 seconds ahead of Hwang, who was joined in the top three by compatriot Kim Young-beom.
The opening heats session of the Asian Games saw Chinese swimmers continue the form that saw the country dominate events in the pool in Hangzhou, with 13-year-old Yu Zidi qualifying fastest for the final of the women’s 200 metres butterfly.
Yu, who became the youngest swimmer ever to win a medal at the world championships in Singapore last year, won her heat in style and her time of 2 minutes 07.97 seconds was almost three seconds quicker than nearest rival Chang Mohan, also from China.
Tang Qianting, meanwhile, is the fastest qualifier for the women’s 50 metres breaststroke final after she was the only swimmer to break the 30-second mark with her swim of 29.50 seconds.
Defending champion Xu Jiayu dominated in the heats of the men’s 100 metre backstroke to take the middle lane in the final with his time of 52.63 seconds seeing the Chinese swimmer qualify 1.80 seconds ahead of nearest challenger Lee Ju-ho from Korea.
Home hopes for gold medal success on the opening day will rest on the shoulders of Tomoyuki Matsushita in the men’s 200 metres individual medley after the Olympic silver medallist topped the timing charts in the heats.
Matsushita finished in a time of 1 minute 58.56 seconds to qualify fastest ahead of compatriot Yumeki Kojima with China Wang Shun in third.
“I was a little nervous but I feel good and it was a smooth swim,” said Matsushita. “Because we’re swimming in Japan there is some pressure and I want to show a good performance to the people in Japan.”