2024 WORLD AQUATIC CHAMPIONSHIPS
- February 11th – February 18th, 2024
- Doha, Qatar
- LCM (50m)
- Meet Central
- SwimSwam Preview Index
- Official Entries
- Live Results
- How To Watch
- Day 1 Prelims Recap | Day 1 Finals Recap
- Day 2 Prelims Recap | Day 2 Finals Recap
- Day 3 Prelims Recap | Day 3 Finals Recap
- Day 4 Prelims Recap | Day 4 Finals Recap
- Day 5 Prelims Recap | Day 5 Finals Recap
Entering these 2024 World Championships, the first and only Chinese man to become world champion in the 100m freestyle was Ning Zetao.
In 2015, now-retired Ning stunned a stacked field that included Australia’s Cameron McEvoy, the United States’ Nathan Adrian and Belgian Pieter Timmers. He topped the podium in Kazan at 47.84, despite owning a lifetime best of 47.65 from a year earlier.
The story was very similar this week in Doha, where China’s Pan Zhanle became the world champion despite owning a much quicker career best from his World Record-setting swim earlier in the competition.
On night one of these World Championships, Pan fired off a monster time of 46.80 as lead-off on his squad’s men’s 4x100m free relay.
His outing represented just his second-ever sub-47-second result. Pan not only overtook his previous Chinese national record of 46.97 which was set at last year’s Asian Games, but it shaved .06 off of Romanian David Popovici‘s eye-popping WR mark of 46.86 established at the 2022 European Championships.
Pan took the individual 100m free gold tonight in a time of 47.53, while Italy’s Alessandro Miressi (47.72) and Hungary’s Nandor Nemeth (47.78) finished behind the 19-year-old superstar.
Regardless of the time, Pan got the job done, took home the gold and became China’s 2nd world champion in this prestigious event leading up to the 2024 Olympic Games.
National/Continental Records Through Day 5:
- China
- Men’s 100m free – Pan Zhanle, 46.80 *WORLD RECORD
- Women’s 100m breast – Tang Qianting, 1:05.27
- Hong Kong
- Women’s 100m breast – Siobhan Haughey, 1:05.92
Medal Table (Asia) Through Day 5:
| RANK | NATION | GOLD | SILVER | BRONZE | TOTAL |
| 1 | China | 4 | 2 | 1 | 7 |
| 2 | South Korea | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 3 | Hong Kong | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 4 | Japan | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Crazy how much faster he was on the 4 x100FR relay lead off. Reminds me of Eamon Sullivan’s lead off in Beijing.
Reminds me of James Magnussen’s lead off in 2011 Shanghai, Michael Klim’s lead off in 2000 Sydney, Sarah Sjostrom’s lead off in 2017 Budapest
Not great to be compared to a guy who won in 2015, almost immediately popped for PEDs and then was basically never heard from again (at a minimum was never a contender).
Pan has already proven he has a little staying power, though.
People could see Ning Zetao’s 100 free win over Cameron McEvoy was improbable.
And people who were suspecting him were proven right.
Pan has proven he’s legit with his track record.
Ning’s only failed drug test was for Clenbuterol in 2011, four years prior to the 2015 world championships. That was a bad year for tainted pork . https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2011/04/29/135839397/tainted-pork-is-latest-food-safety-scandal-in-china
Rooting for Juho to make the 200 back podium.
Congrats for your achievement! Amazing!