He is 19 years old, and had until then only won one medal – silver – at the highest level, but he unleashed a thunderclap on Sunday February 11, in Doha, on the occasion of the World Championships. world. The Chinese Pan Zhanle broke the world record for the 100 meters freestyle in 46 seconds 80, six hundredths less than the mark established by the Romanian David Popovici, in 2022.
Pan Zhanle set the record by being the first to start the 4 × 100 meter freestyle final, which China won. At 50 meters, he was flashed at 22 seconds 26, which already suggested an astonishing time. During the second length, Pan Zhanle continued his effort at an impressive pace, thus erasing from the annals of swimming the record that Popovici had signed during the European Championships, in Rome, in the summer of 2022.
“I said to myself: ‘Swim hard!’ he explained after his race. I was surprised when I saw the time, I didn’t expect to break the world record now, I wanted to keep it for the Paris Olympics. »
During the previous Worlds, in 2023, Pan Zhanle swam the 100 meters in 47 seconds 43 and failed to reach the podium. Constantly improving since then, he established the Asian record the same year during the Chinese Championships by swimming in 47.22 seconds. Then he swam in 46.97 seconds, which made him the fifth fastest man in the world. before arriving in Qatar.
The world record that he established this Sunday in Qatar, where the headliners of world swimming have chosen not to compete in order to preserve themselves for the Olympic Games, will make him the big favorite for the queen race of Paris 2024.