World Championships, Day 4 Semifinals: Jack Alexy Blasts Dressel’s American Record in 100 Freestyle; Pan Zhanle Eliminated
A year ago, Jack Alexy was an also-ran in his first individual Olympic final, ending up seventh in the 100 freestyle. That was the race where China’s Pan Zhanle dominated the field to win gold by more than a second, setting an otherworldly world record of 46.40. Now, Alexy has secured pole position for the World Championships final with a national-record performance — while Pan was stunningly eliminated.
Alexy swam in lane seven of the second semifinal heat after a so-so prelims swim, but he jumped on the pace with the likes of David Popovici, the Romanian coming off gold 24 hours earlier in the 200 free, and Egor Kornev, the top sprinter for the neutral athletes from Russia. Alexy does not excel on the turns, but he made up significant ground coming home, out-splitting everyone in the field except Popovici.
The result was reaching exclusive territory. Alexy touched in 46.81 to break the American record and become the third-fastest man in history. The previous mark belonged to Caeleb Dressel at 46.96, swum on his way to gold at the 2019 World Championships, and Alexy knocked 0.18 off his best time of 46.99 from prelims at U.S. Nationals.
Of course, Alexy still has a tough task to try to win gold in the final. Pan might be out, but in the same heat as Alexy, Popovici swam the second-best time of his career at 46.84, behind only a 46.71 recorded earlier this month. While Alexy closed in a career-best 24.36 on the final lap, Popovici swam a 24.27 coming back. He has momentum following his gold in the 200 free and a strong chance to add his second world title in the event, having previously topped the field in 2022.
As for Pan, he was eliminated despite clocking 47.81 for third place in the first semifinal heat. It initially appeared he would be safe to reach the final, but an incredible second heat saw every swimmer go below 48 seconds. Seven of them made the final, and that knocked out Pan as well as runnerup Nandor Nemeth (47.72).
The only man to advance from that first heat was Kyle Chalmers, the Australian who won Olympic gold in 2016 and the world title two years ago. Chalmers clocked 47.36 for fourth place overall, and the veteran Australian is not to be counted out down the stretch. He had the fastest split in the field on Sunday’s 400 free relay, bringing Australia from third place to gold on the anchor leg.
Kornev advanced to the final in third place at 47.29, with France’s Maxime Grousset in fifth at 47.39. Grousset already has gold in the 50 butterfly at this meet. Great Britain’s Matt Richards (47.59), the United States’ Patrick Sammon (47.62) and Brazil’s Gui Caribe (47.64) were the others to advance to the final.
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