Pan Zhanle, the reigning Chinese Olympic champion and world record holder in the 100 meters, had an excellent race in his debut at the Asian Games in Japan.
Zhanle, 22 years old, won the 100-meter freestyle event at the Asian Games with a time of 47.61 seconds, his best since 2024. He successfully defended his title from 3 years ago at home in Hangzhou when he won gold with a time of 46.97 seconds, the first of his five races where he went under 47 seconds.
After training in a camp in Bucharest alongside Popovici for 6 weeks, Zhanle showed a lot of maturity in this flagship swimming event. In the heats, the Chinese swimmer clocked 48.07 s (23.59; 24.48), qualifying with the fastest time for the final.
Pan dominated the final race and was followed on the podium by Kim Youngbeom, with 47.65 (22.81; 24.84), and Hwang Sunwoo, with 47.79 (22.97; 24.82), both from South Korea.
This was Pan Zhanle's only individual event at this edition of the Asian Games, as he will only compete in relay events.
It is worth noting that the new sensation of the global swimming scene, 13-year-old girl Yu Zidi, won the 200-meter butterfly event with a time of 2:05.08, a new competition record and a new personal best for the wonder girl from China.