DOHA: China’s wunderkind Pan Zhanle clinched the men’s 100 metres freestyle world record on Sunday to ignite the opening day of the World Championships in Doha where Kim Woo-min claimed a surprise 400 freestyle title for South Korea.

Having flirted with the world record at his home Asian Games in Hangzhou last year, 19-year-old Pan clocked 46.80 seconds in a stunning leadoff swim in the 4x100m relay to eclipse the previous mark of 46.86 set by Romania’s David Popovici.

“Breaking the world record is an honour for me,” said Pan, who set up teammates Ji Xinjie, Zhang Zhanshuo and Wang Haoyu to seal gold for China in 3 minutes 11:08 seconds ahead of runners-up Italy and the United States. “This is a motivation for both young and old swimmers. I believe I can go faster than today’s time. It is truly a magical night.”

Pan’s swim at Doha’s Aspire Dome pool makes him favourite for the individual 100 freestyle title and the gold medal at this year’s Paris Olympics.

“I’m lucky to have awesome team mates and we did really well today. It’s just the first day and I’ve been feeling very excited,” he added. “This is just a start... I’ll keep working hard for the Paris Olympics.”

Italy took silver in 3:12.08 and the United States bronze in 3:12.29.

Kim upset a strong field for the 400 freestyle gold, charging out to a big lead midway through the final.

He held on grimly as Australian runner-up Elijah Winnington and German bronze-winner Lukas Maertens threatened to overhaul him in a fierce final-lap sprint.

The 23-year-old Kim clocked three minutes and 42.71 seconds to edge Winnington by 0.15s and shave more than a second off his personal best.

“I didn’t expect to win a medal. I was just happy to be racing against these champions,” Kim told reporters through an interpreter after emulating compatriot Park Tae-Hwan, a former 400m world champion. “My main focus was the beginning of the race because I believe it’s my strength. But now on I will have to focus on the second part.”

The Netherlands won the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay as the quartet of Kim Busch, Janna van Kooten, Kira Toussaint and Marrit Steenbergen clocked 3:36.61 Australia took silver, 0.32sec adrift, with Canada completing the podium.

New Zealand’s Erika Fairweather cruised to victory in the women’s 400m freestyle, touching the wall over two seconds clear of China’s Li Bingjie.

Published in Dawn, February 13th, 2024