David Popovici, Jack Alexy Chasing World Record of Enigmatic Pan Zhanle in Men’s 100 Freestyle
Like many world records in men’s swimming, the mark in the 100 freestyle stood untouched for years following the polyurethane suit era. In a two-year stretch when the suits were legal, the long-standing world record of Dutchman Pieter van den Hoogenband was dropped all the way to 46.91 thanks to France’s Alain Bernard, Australia’s Eamon Sullivan and the swimmer who would end up with the record, Brazil’s Cesar Cielo. Post-suits, no one would surpass that or even come close for many years. It took a full decade until Caeleb Dressel joined the tiny club of sub-47 swimmers when he won the world title in 46.96.
Dressel appeared destined to finally knock off Cielo’s mark, but he would not go sub-47 again following his win at the 2019 World Championships. Dressel went slightly slower on his way to Olympic gold two years later in Tokyo. In 2022, as Dressel stepped back from the sport to focus on health, a new threat emerged in David Popovici. Over the course of two months, Popovici would reach seemingly-impossible heights in the 100 and 200 free, culminating in a world-record-setting performance of 46.86 at the European Championships.
Pan Zhanle — Photo Courtesy: Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
Popovici’s reign atop the events would not last, however, with a disappointing 2023 season resulting in zero World Championships medals. No one swam a 46 that year as Kyle Chalmers won his lone long course world title in the 100 free with a time of 47.15. In that final, Chinese teenager Pan Zhanle would miss a medal by one hundredth, setting the stage for his 2024 brilliance to come.
Pan would break the world record twice that year, going 46.80 on a relay leadoff at the Doha World Championships in February and then a mind-boggling time of 46.40 in the Olympic final as he secured gold by more than a second. Popovici was back in form by this point, swimming fast enough to win Olympic gold in the 200 and bronze behind Pan and Chalmers in the 100, but Pan seemed on the verge of starting a multi-year reign in the event. He was still 19 at the time of his golden swim, and he would celebrate his 20th birthday with a stunning come-from-behind relay anchor to help China to gold in the 400 medley relay, his 45.92 the quickest in history.
After that, anyone in the know had Pan penciled in as the likely gold medalist in the 100 free at the 2025 World Championships — and he ended up 10th. The streak was over before it began as Pan clocked 47.81 in the semifinals, a whopping 1.41 seconds off his world record and a full second behind top-seeded American Jack Alexy. And that was hardly one fluke performance as Pan finished the year having been only four hundredths quicker, his season best of 47.77 recorded in May.
With Pan absent, the three most accomplished swimmers in the 100 free final at Worlds were Popovici, Alexy and Chalmers, and they indeed comprised the podium in that order. Alexy had never been sub-47 before this year, but he did so three times between U.S. Nationals and the World Championships, topping out with an American-record mark of 46.81 that made him the third-fastest man ever. Popovici, meanwhile, secured the world title in 46.51, only 0.11 away from the world record; quickly, Pan’s time from the Olympic final felt far less insurmountable.
Jack Alexy, David Popovici and Kyle Chalmers with their World Championship medals from the 100 freestyle — Photo Courtesy: Emily Cameron
Entering the middle year of the quad, Pan is a huge question mark. Which version of the Chinese sprinter is the real one? He could feasibly be right back into the 46-mid range next year, with Chinese swimmers expected to peak at the Asian Games in September. Such a performance there or elsewhere would send shockwaves across the sprint world, particularly in a rare year with no single race to measure the top contenders against each other.
Popovici will race on the European circuit, and he appears the most likely to knock off the world record. Alexy likely has more to give as well; his best swim in Singapore was not either of his individual-medal-winning efforts but rather the 45.95 anchor split on the American men’s medley relay, singlehandedly rescuing his team from a non-podium finish. Alexy will compete at the Pan Pacific Championships in August, where Chalmers should be among his main rivals.
There are only six swimmers to ever swim below 47: Pan, Popovici, Alexy, Cielo, Bernard and Dressel. While Dressel remains an active competitor, he appears more focused on the 50-meter races and the 100 fly at this point of his career. As for the others who could join that realm, there were six additional swimmers to swim below 47.5 in 2025. Brazil’s Gui Caribe heads the list with his 47.10 from April, and he narrowly missed the Worlds podium in fourth. The others were Russia’s Egor Kornev, France’s Maxime Grousset, South Korea’s Kim Youngbeom and Americans Patrick Sammon and Chris Guiliano.
The only swimmer from that group to ever win a long course global medal in the event is Grousset, who won silver at the 2022 Worlds and bronze a year later. Given the trends of performance in this event, they have an uphill climb to deal with the likes of Popovici and Alexy, both in their prime, plus the erratic Pan and a veteran Chalmers who never disappoints at major competitions.
