China’s Pan Zhanle won the men’s 100-meter freestyle title at the World Championships in Doha. The 19-year-old finished in 47.53 seconds, 0.19 seconds clear of Italian Alessandro Miressi, with Hungarian Nandor Nemeth in third place, 0.25 seconds back. Pan won his first individual medal at the World Championships.
Pan set a new world record of 46.80 as China won the freestyle relay on Sunday, thanks to a scorching opening lap of 22.26. This time, he was more conservative, clocking 22.55, but he still finished first, just ahead of Miressi. In the evening’s first final, Britain’s Laura Stephens surged to the front early in the women’s 200 butterfly and won in 2:07.35, fighting off a late push from Denmark’s Helena Rosendahl Bach, who finished 0.09 seconds back.