Paris, 2024 Asia Recap Day 5: Pan Zhanle Becomes China’s First-Ever 100 Free Olympic Champion

2024 PARIS SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES

• Pool Swimming: July 27 – August 4, 2024
  • Open Water Swimming: August 8 – 9, 2024
• La Défense Arena — Paris, France
• LCM (50 meters)
• Meet Central
• Full Swimming Schedule
• SwimSwam Preview Index
• Pick ’em Contest
• How To Watch
• Entry Lists
• Live Results
• Prelims Live Recaps: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5
• Finals Live Recaps: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5

Tonight’s swimming action at the 2024 Olympic Games may have been the most electric yet, with Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom winning the women’s 100m free after entering the event at the 11th hour, followed by a double gold performance in the 200m fly and 200m breast from the host nation’s Leon Marchand.

Capping off the evening, however, was the men’s 100m freestyle, which saw China’s Pan Zhanle rip a new World Record and Olympic Record time of 46.40 to earn the gold.

19-year-old Pan started off his Paris campaign on night 1 with a stellar split of 46.92 as lead-off on the Chinese men’s 4x100m free relay which ultimately finished 4th.

He then dipped in the individual 200m free, placing 22nd and well out of the semi-finals with a time of 1:47.60, well off his season-best of 1:45.68.

Flash forward to night 5 of these Games and Pan was unmatched in the 1free, beating the star-studded field by remarkably more than a second.

Australia’s Kyle Chalmers scored silver, his 3rd consecutive medal in this event, in 47.48 while Romanian 200m free Olympic champion David Popovici bagged bronze in 47.49.

Entering the 2024 Olympic Games, China had never before earned a medal in the men’s 100m freestyle, let alone gold. Pan has erased that historical fact en route to topping the podium and giving China its first swimming gold in Paris.

Quick Hits

• Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey captured her 2nd bronze of these Games, producing a time of 52.33 to place 3rd in the women’s 100m breast behind winner Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden (52.16) and Torri Huske of the United States (52.33).
• China’s Yang Junxuan produced a new national record in the 100m free as lead-off of the women’s 4x100m free relay on night 1 (52.48) but placed 6th in tonight’s individual event in 52.82.
• Reigning Olympic gold medalist Zhang Yufei of China snared the 3rd seed in the women’s 200m fly for tomorrow night’s final, producing a mark of 2:06.90.
• Li Bingjie of China was among tonight’s women’s 1500m free final, producing a time of 16:01.03 to wind up 5th.
• A pair of Asian swimmers are headed to tomorrow night’s main event of the women’s 200m breast. China’s 2012 IM double Olympic champion Ye Shiwen, now 28, hit 2:23.13 as the 5th seed. 33-year-old Satomi Suzuki sneaked in as the 8th-seeded swimmer in 2:23.54.
• Despite a trio of Asian men contesting the 200m breast final this evening, none made it onto the podium. The top finisher was China’s World Junior Record holder Dong Zhihao (2:08.46) who finished 4th, followed by Yu Hanaguruma of Japan (2:08.79) and Ippei Watanabe of Japan (2:08.83).

Continental & National Records Through Day 5

• Yang Junxuan (CHN) – national record in women’s 100m free (52.48)
• Chinese Women’s 4x100m free relay – national record & Asian record (3:30.30)
• Gan Ching Hwee (SGP) – national record in women’s 1500m free (16:10.13)
• Kayla Sanchez (PHI) – national record in women’s 100m free (53.67)
• Pan Zhanle (CHN) – national record & Asian record & world record in 100m free (46.40)

Asian Swimming Medal Table Through Day 5