While some in the swimming community have called into question Pan Zhanle‘s world record in the 100 freestyle on Wednesday, his competitors are coming to his defense.
The 19-year-old from China clocked a winning time of 46.40, crushing his own global standard of 46.80 from February for the biggest world record drop in this event since 1976 — and the first world record of the meet in what has been dubbed a “slow” pool due to its shallow depth. Pan beat Australia’s Kyle Chalmers (47.48) by 1.08 seconds, the largest margin of victory in an Olympic 100 free final since 1928.
“I think 46.4 changes swimming, for sure,” British sprinter Ben Proud said on Thursday. “It’s a huge drop, it’s fantastic, and it shouldn’t be questioned. It was a great swim by a good athlete and all the other stuff should be taken care of behind the scenes by the people who are in charge. I mean, we sat and watched and just thought, ‘Wow.’
“I’m not going to swear,” said Proud, who tied for the top qualifying spot in the 50 free (21.38) on Thursday, “but it was just a phenomenal swim and to do that in the final against the best in the world winning by a second is something you won’t see very often.”
After earning his third consecutive Olympic medal in the 100 free, Chalmers told reporters that he trusted Pan’s swim and that he “deserves that gold medal.” Romanian 19-year-old David Popovici, who won bronze in 47.49, chimed in that “everyone is innocent until proven guilty.” Popovici previously held the world record at 46.86 from 2022 and already has his sights on Pan’s new target.
“Pan smashed the race. Massive props to him,” Popovici said. “That only means that we’re going to try harder and work harder. If we work harder than him, maybe we win gold. I think making an even faster time than Pan’s is possible. There are people alive now and swimming who can do it. It’s just a matter of putting it together and doing it at the right moment.”
Pan was not one of the 23 Chinese swimmers who tested positive for trimetazidine in 2021, a case that was cleared by the World Anti-Doping Agency due to food contamination. He has been tested 21 times so far this year, according to World Aquatics’ database.
“Last year I received 29 tests, and it has never been positive,” Pan said. “I was tested after the race and we will see the result.”
I was a big fan of Brett with the Sprint Revolution up until recently. Lost all respect for that bald salty clown. He beat your friend Kyle get over it. Zip his pants up bruh
The fact that there’s also no fingers pointing at Marchand despite his performances being even more of an anomaly, and dropping 1.2 seconds off his 200fly pb
The guy won fair and square. It’s absolutely BS that people are harassing him, he swam like a demon, hope he doesn’t read the current sensational media.
Between Rowdy and Brett, why are auburn alum so darn salty?
HE WILL BREAK THIS RECORD AGAIN .THIS WAS NOT A FLUKE RECORD ESPECIALLY IF THE POOL WAS SLOW FOR SWIMMERS SUPPOSEDLEE🏆🏆
HE WON BECAUSE AFTER BREAKING RECORD IN HIS 100 METRE SWIM IN RELAY IN DOHA.HE HAD CHANCE TO BREAK RECORD AT THE OLYMPICS.AND HE TOOK THE CHANCE AT THE INDIVIDUAL 100 METRES AND HE BROKE THE RECORD IN A POOL THAT IS SUPPOSEDLY SLOW.BEING A YOUNG MAN LIKELY HE WILL BREAK THIS RECORD AGAIN .GOOD LUCK TO HIM IN FUTURE,🙈🙉🙊🙌
No need for caps. Geez.
Classy. One thing that has really stood out to me this Olympics is what stand-up people these athletes seem like. Just a lot of good sportsmanship and good will toward each other, at least on the surface. I’m sure things bubble up that we don’t see, but everyone holds it together pretty well and been graceful in both victory and defeat.
Yeah I was very worried after ZSC and Peaty/Guy suggested they might podium protest. It probably helps that China haven’t been dominant. If they had won the most golds I can imagine there might be more controversy.
ZSC and Peaty would’ve had a justified reason to protest cuz the guy they were competing against actually tested positive for a banned substance unlike Pan
The perfect equilibrium has been found
https://swimswam.com/pan-zhanle-breaks-olympic-record-with-46-92-100-freestyle-lead-off-in-mens-4×100-free-relay/#comment-1432475
The stars aligned for that swim.