Breaking the world record in the men's 100-meter freestyle!

"I don't think it's a world record yet, and I don't deserve to be that Chinese flying fish. These are the words he said after Pan Zhanle won the gold medal in the men's 100m freestyle at the Hangzhou Asian Games in September last year.

He also said that he was just staring at the world record to swim, and in the end it was 0.1 off, which is a bit of a pity.

He swam 46.97 seconds, while the world record at the time was 46.86 seconds.

Just over four months later, Pan Zhanle has achieved his goal of breaking the world record.

According to the standards he set himself, he is now a well-deserved "Chinese flying fish".

Just as the whole of China is celebrating the New Year, the Chinese swimming team ushered in the first important event of the Year of the Dragon - the 2024 World Aquatics Championships in Doha, the capital of Qatar.

The list of Chinese swimming teams participating in the World Championships is as follows:

Swimming –

Female athletes: Ma Yonghui, Mao Yihan, Ai Yanhan, Lv Yue, Sun Mingxia, Li Bingjie, Yang Chang, Yang Peiqi, Yu Yiting, Chen Xin, Chen Jie, Tang Qianting, Gong Zhenqi

Male athletes: Wang Haoyu, Wang Xizhe, Zhang Zhanshuo, Ji Xinjie, Fei Liwei, Xu Yifan, Dong Zhihao, Pan Zhanle

Open Water Swimming –

Female athletes: Mao Yihan, Xin Xin

Male athletes: Liu Peixin, Zhang Jinhou

As can be seen from the list, the Chinese team did not send all the main forces. We are very familiar with Qin Haiyang, Zhang Yufei, Wang Shun, Ye Shiwen and other famous players did not participate with the team this time.

The absence of star players will inevitably lower the expectations of the audience.

But what is a little surprising is that on the first day of the swimming competition, the Chinese team sent us a big surprise!

The Chinese team composed of Pan Zhanle, Ji Xinjie, Zhang Zhanshuo and Wang Haoyu won the gold medal in the men's 4x100m freestyle relay with a time of 3:11.08!

This is the first gold medal won by the Chinese swimming team at this World Championships!

What's even more shocking is that Pan Zhanle, who is the first swimmer for the Chinese team, broke the men's 100-meter freestyle world record with a time of 46.80 seconds!

Here's a quick recap of the competition:

In the first bat, Pan Zhanle quickly left all his opponents behind, and he was already one position ahead of the second place when he touched the wall.

In the second stick, Ji Xinjie basically kept the advantage left to him by Pan Zhanle.

In the third, Zhang Zhanshuo was overtaken by the Italian in the adjacent lane, but then he withstood the pressure and regained first place when he touched the wall.

In the fourth stick, Wang Haoyu became more and more courageous, once again throwing off the rest of the players, and finally reached the finish line first. The Chinese swimming team also won the first gold medal at this World Championships.

After the game, there should be many people who have not realized what Pan Zhanle has done.

After all, this is a relay final, and there are not too many people who can think of him breaking the world record in the individual event at the first time.

According to the rules of FINA -

In the relay race, the first athlete can apply for a world record, but it needs to be explicitly applied to the chief referee before the race. The bottom three players are not eligible to apply for the world record because they are not at the signal to start.

It is worth mentioning that if the first player sets a new record, the record of the first player can still be recognized even if the team is disqualified due to fouls committed by other team members.

All in all, Pan Zhanle's men's 100m freestyle world record is in line with the rules and is real and valid.

For breaking the world record, FINA also specially awarded Pan Zhanle a prize of 30,000 US dollars.

How significant is this world record? There may be some viewers who have not reacted to it.

19-year-old Pan Zhanle broke the world record in individual events through a relay final at a very star-studded World Championships.

There are indeed a lot of coincidences and contrasts in this, and it is no wonder that the audience is not psychologically prepared. But no matter what, Pan Zhanle's "flying fish" has indeed taken off.

His goal in the future is to become a legend like Yao Ming, Liu Xiang, Li Na, Sun Yang, and Su Bingtian.

The above "top streamers" in China's sports world have all achieved historic breakthroughs for China and even Asia in a project with global influence.

Now Poon has done the same, and he is the first yellow man to break the world record in the men's 100m freestyle.

Even without considering the significance of his breakthrough for the Chinese and the yellow race, it is a big deal that he can break the record itself and put it on the world swimming scene.

On August 14, 2022, Romanian swimming star David Popovich won the men's 100m freestyle final at the European Swimming Championships with a time of 46.86 seconds and set a new world record.

At the time, David Popovich wasn't very famous, and the European Swimming Championships weren't very popular. But the fact that he broke the world record caused a sensation in the entire world sports world.

Because before he swam 46.86 seconds, the world record set by Brazilian star Cesar Cielo (46.91 seconds) had been held for 13 years.

David Popovich broke the record and became one of the most watched athletes in world swimming.

Just a year and a half later, Popovich's new record was broken by Pan Zhanle.

Although Pan Zhanle's reputation in the domestic sports world is not big, his current achievements are enough to shock the world swimming world.

For athletes, behind all the "births" must be "accumulation". If you regularly follow swimming competitions, you should know that Pan Zhanle has already shown amazing talent.

As mentioned earlier, Brazil's Cesar Cielo held the world record for 13 years with a time of 46.91 seconds.

It can be seen that in the men's 100-meter freestyle event, those who can swim 47 seconds are all historical masters. In fact, in many cases, swimming in 48 seconds is already very rare.

Ning Zetao swam 47.70 seconds in the Asian Games that year, becoming the first Asian to swim in 48 seconds. He later won the World Championships in 2015 with a time of 47.84 seconds.

In 2021, American Dressel won the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics with a time of 47.02 seconds.

At the 2023 World Swimming Championships, Australia's Kyle Chalmers won the gold medal in 47.15 seconds.

After understanding the above information, let's take a look at Pan Zhanle's "speeding up" road.

In September 2021, in the men's 100-meter freestyle final of the National Games, Pan Zhanle won the bronze medal in 48.59 seconds.

In June 2022, in the semifinals of the men's 100m freestyle at the World Championships, Pan Zhanle tied the national record held by Ning Zetao with a time of 47.65 seconds, and became the second Chinese player to swim into the 48-second mark.

In the subsequent final, Pan Zhanle finished fourth with a time of 47.79 seconds.

In May 2023, in the men's 100-meter freestyle final of the National Swimming Championships, Pan Zhanle won the championship in 47.22 seconds and broke the Asian record in the 100-meter freestyle.

In July 2023, in the men's 100-meter freestyle final of the World Championships, Pan Zhanle finished fourth in 47.43 seconds.

In September 2023, in the men's 100-meter freestyle final of the Asian Games, Pan Zhanle won the gold medal in 46.97 seconds.

He broke the Asian record again and became the first Asian athlete in history to swim 47 seconds in this event, and the fifth athlete in history to swim 47 seconds in this event.

Not long after the start of 2024, Pan Zhanle broke the world record.

"The world record is not the end, my career is just beginning," he said. ”

In the future, he will have the opportunity to bring more surprises at this World Championships, so let's wait and see.