2024 World Championships Night 1 Relays: Pan’s WR Leadoff of 46.80 Sets Tone for China Gold

2024 World Aquatic Championships

• February 11th – February 18th
• Doha, Qatar
• LCM (50m)
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Men’s 4×100 Free Relay Start List

Men’s 4×100-Meter Freestyle Relay – Final

• World Record: USA – 3:08.24
• Championship Record: USA – 3:09.06
• 2023 World Champion: Australia – 3:10.16

Final:

1. China (Pan (WR), Ji, Zhang, Wang) — 3:11.08
2. Italy (Miressi, Zazzeri, Conte, Frigo) — 3:12.08
3. USA (King, Casas, Hobson, Foster) — 3:12.29
4. Great Britain — 3:12.59
5. Hungary — 3:13.66
6. Greece — 3:13.67
7. Serbia — 3:13.88
8. Spain — 3:14.83

China earned their first World Championships gold medal in the 4×100 freestyle relay on Sunday night in Doha, and they did so in spectacular fashion. Pan Zhanle led off with a 46.80 to break David Popovici’s World Record of 46.86 and give Ji Xinjie a full body-length advantage over the field.

Ji split 48.18 on the second leg to keep China in the lead. He handed off to Zhang Zhanshou, whose 48.63 was just enough to keep Italy a tenth back in second place. Wang Haoyu went 47.47 on the anchor leg, the second-fastest rolling start split, to give China a full second advantage over Italy at the final touch.

Hungary’s Nandor Nemeth produced the second-fastest leadoff of 47.89, just .01 better than that of Italy’s Alessandro Miressi. Pan, Nemeth, and Miressi were the sole sub-48s in the field.

Italy moved into 2nd at the halfway point, with Lorenzo Zazzeri (47.99) outsplitting Hungary’s Szebasztian Szabo (48.27).

USA’s Luke Hobson (47.68) moved past Hungary and into 3rd place on leg 3 but couldn’t catch Italy, whose Paolo Conte Bonin held steady in 2nd place with 47.83.

As Wang was wrapping up China’s gold medal performance, there was an exciting race for 2nd place among anchors Manuel Frigo of Italy (48.36), Carson Foster of USA (48.12), and Great Britain’s Duncan Scott (47.37). Despite Scott’s performance – his was the fastest split of the meet, Great Britain fell just short of overtaking USA (bronze) and Italy (silver).

Leadoff

1. PAN Zhanle (CHN) – 46.80 *WORLD RECORD*
2. Nandor NEMETH (HUN) – 47.89
3. Alessandro MIRESSI (ITA) – 47.90
4. Matt KING (USA) – 48.02
5. Matthew RICHARDS (GBR) – 48.19
6. Apostolos CHRISTOU (GRE) – 48.95
7. Sergio de CELIS MONTALBAN (ESP) – 49.03
8. Velimir STJEPANOVIC (SRB) – 49.10

Rolling Splits

1. Duncan SCOTT (GBR) – 47.37
2. WANG Haoyu (CHN) – 47.47
3. Luke HOBSON (USA) – 47.68
4. Andrej BARNA (SRB) – 47.75
5. Paolo CONTE BONIN (ITA) – 47.83
6. Lorenzo ZAZZERI (ITA) – 47.99
7. Carson FOSTER (USA) – 48.12
8. Luis DOMINGUEZ (ESP) – 48.16
9. Kristian GKOLOMEEV (GRE) – 48.17
10. Andreas VAZAIOS (GRE) – 48.17
11. Nikola ACIN (SRB) – 48.17
12. JI Xinjie (CHN) – 48.18
13. Szebasztian SZABO (HUN) – 48.27
14. Mario MOLLA YANES (ESP) – 48.34
15. Manuel FRIGO (ITA) – 48.36
16. Jacob Henry WHITTLE (GBR) – 48.36
17. Stergios Marios BILAS (GRE) – 48.38
18. Adam JASZO (HUN) – 48.44
19. Shaine CASAS (USA) – 48.47
20. ZHANG Zhanshuo (CHN) – 48.63
21. Tom DEAN (GBR) – 48.63
22. Uros NIKOLIC (SRB) – 48.86
23. Daniel MESZAROS (HUN) – 49.06
24. Carles COLL MARTI (ESP) – 49.40