100 Free World Record Holder Pan Zhanle Upsets Big Field in Men’s 400 in Incheon

2024 World Aquatics Swimming World Cup – Incheon

The men’s 400 free field on Thursday evening in Incheon Korea was loaded with middle-distance talent. The home nation South Korea is experiencing a bit of a moment in the middle distance events and were represented by Kim Woomin, Lee Hojoon, and Kim Junwoo. Besides that, Kregor Zirk of Estonia, Duncan Scott of the UK, Kieran Smith of the USA, and Danas Rapsys of Lithuania, the lineup in the race could have made up most of an Olympic final.

And yet it was a “sprinter,” China’s Pan Zhanle, who blew past the field to win in 3:36.43.

Pan has mostly become famous for his abilities in the 100 meter freestyle, which included an Olympic gold medal and a World Record time of 46.40, knocking four-tenths off the World Record that he set in February at the World Championships.

But for the 20-year-old Pan, stretching to the longer distance might not be as odd as it seems.

For one, Pan is an international-caliber 200 freestyle. In the 2022-2023 season, he was 4th in the world in that event in long course in 1:44.65. He was also the Asian Games silver medalist in the 400 free in 2022 in long course, though his 3:48.81 to finish four-and-a-half seconds behind Kim Woo-min didn’t really turn too many heads.

Digging back into Pan’s swimming history, though, gives a more complete picture.

As a younger swimmer, he was primarily distance-focused, swimming the 400, 800, and 1500 freestyles at the Chinese National Championships in 2019 when he first caught attention at only 14-years old.

He won the 1500 free at that meet in 15:33.48. At the time, that would have been the second-best effort in history among Americans ever, only two seconds behind the legendary U.S. 13-14 National Age Group Record of Jesse Vassallo.

He also swam 4:02.17 in the 400 free and 8:10.57 in the 800 free at the same meet.

The shift was pretty sudden, though. By the time he was next mentioned on SwimSwam in May 2021, he was 2nd at the Chinese Championships in the 100 meter free, and he hasn’t done much of the 1500 in the years since. At the same meet in May 2021 when his sprinting began to shine through, he went 15:59 in the 1500 – about 26 seconds slower than he had been two years earlier.

According to Chinese media, Pan really only began developing his sprinting abilities during the pandemic, and last year, his coach said they were training for everything from the 50 to the 1500, even trying the 10 km open water event in 2021.

Pan’s 400 short course meters free time is still four seconds shy of the World Record in the event, and about a second shy of what it took to medal at SC Worlds in 2022, so it’s not necessarily time to anoint him as a contender in the race, but it does show that in spite of finishing just 22nd in the 200 free at the Olympics, before his World Record swim, Pan isn’t ready to fully let go of his dreams-of-distance quite yet.