Pan Zhanle of China celebrates after the men's 100m freestyle final of swimming at Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France, on July 31, 2024. (Xinhua/Du Yu)

China's Pan Zhanle set a new world record as he stormed to victory in the men's 100m freestyle at the Paris Olympics on Wednesday.

Pan touched the wall in 46.40 seconds, more than a second ahead of Australian Kyle Chalmers, who took silver.

Romania's David Popovici claimed bronze, one hundredth of a second further back.

Pan's time eclipsed his own previous record of 46.80 set in Doha worlds in February.