dexinwin China’sPan Zhanlesuccessfully defended his men’s 100m freestyle title at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Sunday, edging South Korea’s Kim Young-beom in a dramatic finish at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre.
Pan touched the wall in47.61 seconds, just 0.04 seconds ahead of Kim, who took silver in 47.65. South Korea’s Hwang Sun-woo won bronze in 47.79.
Pan Holds Off Late Challenge
The final was much closer than the result of the previous Asian Games might have suggested.
Pan, the reigning Asian Games champion and current world-record holder, faced a strong challenge from Kim and Hwang throughout the race. Kim produced a powerful finish and closed the gap rapidly in the final meters, but Pan managed to reach the wall first.
His winning time of 47.61 was well outside his world record of46.40 seconds, but it was enough to secure another Asian Games gold medal.
The victory gave Pan his second consecutive Asian Games title in the event, following his triumph at the Hangzhou Asian Games three years ago.
After the race, Pan admitted that he had hoped to swim faster.
“I was a little short of what I expected. I wanted to do better and swim faster, but first of all I am happy to have won,” Pan said, according to Reuters.
He added that the performance was his best result in the past two years and said he believed he could swim faster in the future.
China Retains Its 100m Freestyle Crown
Pan entered the Asian Games as one of the biggest names in the Chinese swimming team.
He holds the men's 100m freestyle world record of 46.40 seconds, set at the 2024 Paris Olympics, and has established himself as one of the world's leading sprint swimmers.
His victory in Tokyo adds another major title to his résumé and gives China another gold medal on a highly successful opening day in the swimming pool.
China dominated the first day of swimming competition, winningsix of the seven gold medalson offer. Yu Zidi won the women's 200m butterfly in a Games-record 2:05.08, while Li Bingjie, Tang Qianting and Xu Jiayu also claimed individual titles. China additionally won the women's 4x100m freestyle relay in another Games-record time.
Korea Takes Two Medals
Although Kim Young-beom narrowly missed out on gold, his 47.65 represented an impressive performance.
The 22-year-old came within four hundredths of a second of defeating the reigning Asian Games champion. Hwang Sun-woo completed the podium for South Korea with 47.79.
The result gave South Korea both the silver and bronze medals in the event.
Kim and Hwang also helped produce one of the most competitive men's 100m freestyle finals of the opening day, with all three medalists finishing within 0.18 seconds of one another.
Another Asian Games Title for Pan
Pan’s latest victory continues his strong record in the event at major Asian competitions.
Three years after winning the 100m freestyle at Hangzhou, he has now successfully defended his title in Aichi-Nagoya.
The victory also came at a venue with particular significance for Hwang Sun-woo. At the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, Hwang set an Asian record of 47.56 seconds at the same facility.
This time, however, the spotlight belonged to Pan.
His 47.61-second performance was not the world-record swim he had hoped for, but it delivered the result that mattered most:another Asian Games gold medal and a successful defense of his men's 100m freestyle crown.
With more swimming events still to come, Pan will now turn his attention to the rest of China's campaign as the Chinese team looks to maintain its strong start in the pool.
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