Dahe Daily · Yu Video Special Paris correspondent Wang Weihao
In the early morning of August 1, Beijing time, the swimming competition of the Paris Olympic Games continued at the La Défense Natatorium, and Chinese player Pan Zhanle swam 46.40 seconds in the men's 100-meter freestyle final, breaking the world record and winning the championship, which was the first gold medal of the Chinese swimming team in this Olympic Games and the 9th gold medal of the Chinese delegation in the Paris Olympic Games. It is worth mentioning that the men's 100-meter freestyle, known as the Flying Fish War, is equivalent to the 100-meter trapeze battle in the track and field event, and is the heaviest gold medal in the swimming event.
At the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, the Chinese swimming team won a total of 6 medals with 3 golds, 2 silvers and 1 bronze, ranking fourth in the medal table of swimming events, and its performance exceeded expectations. At the Paris Olympics, the Chinese swimming team sent a lineup of 31 people, including Zhang Yufei, Wang Shun, Ye Shiwen, Li Bingjie, Yang Junxuan, Tang Muhan 6 Olympic champions, as well as the men's 100-meter self-swimming world record holder Pan Zhanle, the world champion of the breaststroke triple crown Qin Haiyang, and the former backstroke world champion Xu Jiayu and other famous athletes. However, in the competition a few days ago, although the Chinese swimming team had many opportunities, it always missed the gold medal, and Pan Zhanle won the championship at this time, which will undoubtedly greatly boost the morale of the Chinese swimming team.
Previously, in the men's 4×100m freestyle relay at the Paris Olympics, although the Chinese team ranked fourth and missed the podium, Pan Zhanle's performance was still outstanding. In the preliminaries and finals, he played the last and first bats respectively, and with his steady performance, he swam into the 47-second mark on both occasions. In the final, Pan Zhanle took the lead at 50 meters and finally broke the meet record with a time of 46.92 seconds to take the lead in handing over the baton. However, Pan Zhanle said: "I don't think it's good enough, if we create more advantages, we can stand on the podium." It's been half a year since I broke the world record, but I haven't had a long time, so let's keep working hard. ”
No one expected that the "speed-up" under "continue to work hard" would come so quickly. In the men's 100-meter freestyle preliminaries on July 30, Pan Zhanle swam 48.40 seconds and advanced to the semifinals with a 13th-place result. However, in the semi-finals, Pan Zhanle swam 47.21 seconds in lane 8 and successfully advanced to the final as the first in the semi-finals.
The Olympic men's 100-meter freestyle final is the pinnacle of the world men's 100-meter freestyle, world record holder Pan Zhanle, Romania's Popovich, Australia's Chalmers, United States' Alexi and other top masters in the world are in the pool, among which Popovich, who has been in excellent form recently, is the biggest threat to Pan Zhanle, and is likely to swim within 47 seconds.
In the end, Pan Zhanle, who was in lane 4, lived up to expectations and won the championship with a world record of 46.40 seconds, with Chalmers winning the silver medal in 47.48 seconds and Popovich taking bronze in 47.49 seconds.
Talking about the significance of this Olympic gold medal, Pan Zhanle said: "It doesn't mean much to me, because life still has to go on. For the country, this gold medal is of great significance, because it is the first time that Chinese have made history in a new (swimming) event, which is very joyful. ”
Pan Zhanle
Male, born in August 2004, from Wenzhou, Zhejiang, is an international athlete in swimming. In December 2018, he entered the Zhejiang Provincial Swimming Team and holds the world record in the men's 100-meter freestyle.
At the 2024 World Swimming Championships in Doha, he won four gold medals in the men's 100m freestyle, men's 4×100m freestyle and 4×200m freestyle relay, men's and women's 4× 100m freestyle relay, and set a new world record of 46.80 seconds in the men's 100m freestyle. In 2023, he won the men's 100-meter freestyle championship, the men's 4×100-meter freestyle relay championship, and the men's 4×100-meter medley relay championship at the 19th Hangzhou Asian Games. He was awarded the honorary title of "Advanced Individual of Hangzhou Asian Games and Asian Paralympic Games", and the Zhejiang Provincial People's Government recorded "second-class merit" once.
Source: Dahe News · Yu Video Editor: Ding Fenglin