China's Pan Zhanle broke his own world record in the men's 100-meter freestyle final at the Paris Olympics on Wednesday night.
Pan, who will be 20 on Sunday, touched the wall in 46.40 seconds, 0.40 inside his previous benchmark set in February and 1.08 ahead of Australian runner-up Kyle Chalmers, at Paris La Defense Arena.
"I was very surprised in the end that I broke the world record, and I think it was a magical moment," Pan said. "For Team China, I think it means a lot because it's the first time a Chinese athlete has broken a world record at these Games."
Pan jumped out to an early lead and left other finalists fighting for second place en route to becoming Asia's first Olympic men's 100-freestyle champion since Japan's Yasuji Miyazaki at the 1932 Los Angeles Games.
Asked whether attention on Chinese swimmers' positive doping tests has had an impact on him, Pan said, "Last year I received 29 tests, and it has never been positive."
"I was tested after the race, and we will see the result. I don't think there's any impact because the testing has been done within the normal time frame."
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