China's athletes shine at World Aquatics Championships in Doha | Sports | China Focus

Published on : 16/02/2024

The World Aquatics Championships in Doha is underway. In the competition on yesterday (February 15th), a rising star of the national swimming team of China, Pan Zhanle, won the men's 100m freestyle gold medal.

The Chinese quartet led by Olympic champion Li Bingjie added another gold in the women's 4x200m freestyle relay.

Meanwhile, the "Flying Fish" of Hong Kong Siobhan Haughey won the first long-course world title of her career by taking gold in the women’s 200m freestyle, bringing Hong Kong its first world gold ever in its history.

World record holder Pan Zhanle claims 100m freestyle gold

The 19-year-old Pan Zhanle, the world record holder and one of China's most exciting young talents, won the men's 100m freestyle final in 47.56 seconds, winning his first individual gold medal of World Championship. Italian swimming star Alessandro Miressi and Hungarian athlete Nandor Nemeth won silver and bronze respectively.

Pan Zhanle won gold in the men's 100m freestyle at the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games. The picture shows Pan Zhanle winning gold medal in Doha World Championships. (Image Source: Getty)

Pan had won the men's 100-meter freestyle at the National Swimming Championships in May 2023, and broke the Asian record for this event.

After the race in Doha, Pan said that the opponents were not that competitive, and he thanked for the attention he had received from more and more people. He said he would continue to train hard and show his best form at the Olympics.

In addition, in the women's 4x200m freestyle relay at the World Championships, the China team won the championship with a time of 7 minutes and 47.26 seconds.

For the final, the Chinese team sent out a young lineup led by Li Bingjie, with Ai Yanhan, Gong Zhenqi and Yang Peiqi.

Li Bingjie (second from right) swam out 1 minute and 54.59 seconds in the third leg, which was the fastest segment time among all contestants. After the third leg, the Chinese team overtook to the first. (Web image)

As the gold medalist of this event in the Tokyo Olympics, Li Bingjie performed stunningly in the third leg. She strongly reversed and helped the Team China win the gold medal by surpassing the British athletes and the Australians.

Haughey wins historical gold medal for Hong Kong

As for the Hong Kong team, its "Flying Fish" Siobhan Haughey took her first individual gold medal in the women's 200m freestyle final at Doha, with a time of 1 minute and 54.89 seconds.

This is also the first swimming World Championships gold medal in the history of the China Hong Kong team. (Image Source: VCG)

"It means so much to me," said Haughey after the game, "especially since the past three times I just missed out on the podium. This time not only did I stand on the podium, but also the highest podium. I know a lot of people are paying attention to the game, their support is very important to me."

Haughey is also the silver medalist at the Tokyo Olympics. Image shows Haughey in Doha World Championships. (Image source: VCG)

In addition, Haughey also won bronze in the women's 100m breaststroke with a Hong Kong record-breaking time; the gold medal was won by young Chinese national team member Tang Qianting.

Afterwards, Haughey moved to the 100m freestyle. She has advanced to the final in second place and will challenge the championship tonight (February 16th), striving for her second gold medal in this World Championships.