47 seconds 22! At the National Swimming Championships on the evening of May 1, Beijing time, 19-year-old Pan Zhanle set a new Asian record in the men's 100m freestyle, improving Huang Sunyu's 47.56 seconds by 0.34 seconds! This time is also the world's best time in the men's 100 this year, after Romania's Popovic swam 47.61 seconds in April.
At last year's World Swimming Championships, Pan Zhanle, who was less than 18 years old, actually made history.
With a previous personal best of 48.59 seconds in the final of the National Games, he finished sixth in the preliminary round in 48.19 seconds. In the semifinals, he swam 47.65 seconds – even equalling the national record set by Ning Zetao and just 0.09 seconds short of the Asian record. He became the first Chinese player to appear in the final of the men's 100 World Championships since Ning Zetao at the 2015 World Championships in Kazan, and the second Chinese player to open the 48-second mark.
In the final, Pan Zhanle continued his good form. Seventh in the first 50 meters, first in the last 50 meters, and fourth in the final time of 47.79 seconds, just 0.08 seconds away from reaching the podium. In fact, his time was 0.05 seconds faster than Ning Zetao's victory in Kazan at that time...
Pan Zhanle was born in 2004. Less than 5 years old, he was seen by Wenzhou Junior Swimming School, and since then he has started his swimming career. His coach at the time, Wang Shi, described him as "He only likes swimming, and he really likes swimming." So for Pan Zhanle, the coach punished him in a different way: if he did not perform well, he was not allowed to swim. "I punished him for not being able to go into the water, but he felt very uncomfortable."
His idol is Sun Yang, and once he talked about his goal, saying, "Faster than Sun Yang is enough!" ”
Pan Zhanle's love for swimming also allowed Pan Zhanle to grow rapidly in subsequent competitions, and his good results continued to be good - in the 2014 Provincial Games, at the age of 10, he won ten gold medals in five days of competition; At the 2021 National Games, the 16-year-old represented Zhejiang and won the bronze medal in the men's 100m self; Last year's World Championships tied the national record and almost reached the podium; And today, breaking the Asian record...
Eight years ago, at the World Championships in Kazan, when Ning Zetao won the gold medal in the 100-meter freestyle, he once said, "This is the dream of generations of Chinese swimmers, proving that in the world swimming world, Chinese male athletes can also dominate the 100-meter freestyle!" Chinese. Asians definitely do not lose to Europeans and Americans. ”
When he regretted not being able to win a medal at the World Championships, Pan Zhanle looked forward to it this way, "It's mine after all, it will be mine, if I didn't get it this time, the next time may be mine." More than a year later, he won his championship medal, which also proved the strength of the Chinese men's 100m freestylers.
Today, when Ning Zetao has long faded out of the swimming arena, the young Pan Zhanle is expected to continue his former glory and bold words. Breaking the Asian record in 47.22 seconds is far from the end, and for the world men's 100, his era may have just begun.