{"id":577525,"date":"2024-02-11T11:00:38","date_gmt":"2024-02-11T18:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=577525"},"modified":"2024-02-11T12:01:25","modified_gmt":"2024-02-11T19:01:25","slug":"flash-pan-zhanle-takes-down-100-free-world-record-leads-china-to-400-free-relay-world-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/flash-pan-zhanle-takes-down-100-free-world-record-leads-china-to-400-free-relay-world-title\/","title":{"rendered":"FLASH! Pan Zhanle Takes Down 100 Free World Record, Leads China to 400 Free Relay World Title"},"content":{"rendered":"

FLASH! Pan Zhanle Takes Down 100 Free World Record, Leads China to 400 Free Relay World Title<\/strong><\/p>\n

At last year’s Asian Games, China’s\u00a0Pan Zhanle<\/strong> became only the fifth man in history to crack 47 seconds for the 100 freestyle, the 19-year-old coming in at 46.97 to miss\u00a0David Popovici’s<\/strong> world record by just 11-hundredths. Now, in his first opportunity at the World Championships, Pan has lowered that world record while propelling his country to its first-ever gold medal in a men’s relay at a World Championships.<\/p>\n

After 50 meters, Pan flipped six tenths clear of the field in 22.26, and he returned in 24.54 to clear Popovici’s year-and-a-half-old world record of 46.86. More importantly for the purposes of this race, Pan supplied China with a nine-tenths lead over Italy’s Alessandro Miressi<\/strong>, and with a deep team behind him, China was suddenly in the mix for gold.<\/p>\n

Indeed,\u00a0Ji Xinjie<\/strong> split 48.18 to hold the lead before\u00a0Zhang Zhanshuo <\/strong>went 48.63, enough to keep Italy a tenth at bay and the Americans up by a half-second. That gave\u00a0Wang Haoyu<\/strong> an opportunity to pull away and secure gold, his 47.47 split standing as the second-quickest anchor split, while the American and Italian anchors could not crack 48. That gave China gold medal in 3:11.08, exactly one second ahead of Italy (3:12.08), with the United States taking bronze (3:12.29).<\/p>\n

The medal was China’s first ever podium finish in the 400 free relay and only the country’s fourth men’s relay medal ever. Previously, teams led by\u00a0Sun Yang<\/strong> has captured 800 free relay medals at the 2011 and 2013 World Championships while the men’s medley relay claimed silver last year. Now, China is putting itself in position for a serious medal run in this event at the Paris Olympics while Pan will try to join\u00a0Ning Zetao<\/strong> as Chinese swimmers to win individual world titles in the 100 free when that event comes around later in the week.<\/p>\n

Italy’s silver-medal-winning team included Miressi,\u00a0Lorenzo Zazzeri<\/strong>,\u00a0Paolo Conte Bonin<\/strong> and\u00a0Manuel<\/strong> Frigo<\/strong>, with Conte Bonin stepping in for\u00a0Thomas Ceccon<\/strong> from the group that won silver last year. The Americans, on the other hand, had only\u00a0Matt King<\/strong> back off last year’s squad as\u00a0Shaine Casas<\/strong>,\u00a0Luke Hobson<\/strong> and\u00a0Carson Foster<\/strong> handled the other legs, with Hobson’s 47.68 the quickest of the bunch.<\/p>\n

Great Britain, meanwhile, used a full-strength squad of\u00a0Matt Richards<\/strong>,\u00a0Jacob Whittle<\/strong>,\u00a0Tom Dean<\/strong> and\u00a0Duncan Scott<\/strong>, but the British ended up fourth in 3:12.55. Scott surged home with a 47.37 split but none of the other Brits were able to come close to their best times. However, the British team wanted to take no chances here after a prelims disqualification at the 2023 Worlds ended their gold-medal chances and left the team still needing to lock down its place at the Paris Olympics, which was accomplished here.<\/p>\n

Australia, the winner of last year’s world title behind superstar anchor\u00a0Kyle Chalmers<\/strong>, was absent from this field entirely, but none of the relay teams posted a time that would have been worthy of a medal at last year’s Worlds. Still, we now must consider China a serious 2024 threat in this relay alongside the Aussies, Americans, Italians and British.<\/p>\n