Team China and their relay quartet reigned once again in Doha. This time, it’s their mixed freestyle quartet composed of Pan Zhanle, Wang Haoyu, Li Bingjie, and Yu Yiting secured the victory with a time of 3:21.18, breaking their Asian record of 3:24.47 set in the morning preliminaries. It was China’s fourth gold in freestyle relay events in this Championships after they won the men’s 4x100m and 4x200m freestyle relays and women’s 4x200m freestyle relay, respectively.
Newly crowned 100m freestyle world champion and record-breaker Pan dove into the crystal-clear depths, his strokes slicing through the water with precision. With each powerful kick, he set the tempo, laying a foundation of gold for his teammates to build upon. As the baton passed to Wang, the Chinese contingent surged ahead, splitting 47.41 seconds, leaving their rivals trailing in their wake. The Australians attempted to narrow the gap, but the Chinese squad, with wings of determination, refused to be caught.
Enter Li, the distance ace who bagged two silvers from 400m and 1,500m freestyle, showed impressive speed swimming the third leg. With graceful strokes and powerful kicks, she propelled herself through the waves, and her speed was unmatched.
She split 53.11, holding off Shayna Jack‘s 52.38 split for the Australians. She then handed the baton to Yu, the anchor who scratched out of the 50 butterfly finals to focus on this relay and brought them home in 53.37.
This gold medal is mainly to motivate myself, and I will work harder in the future,
PAN ZHANLE
I have to say a big thank you to my teammates – they are very good
LI BINGJIE
I also want to thank our coach, he is very good
YU YITING
