China's new swimming prodigy Pan Zhanle smashed his own world record as he destroyed the field to clinch a gold medal in men's 100m freestyle at the Olympics early on Thursday.

Pan, four days from his 20th birthday, finished the course in 46.40 seconds, 0.4 seconds faster than the mark he set in February in Doha at the World Aquatics Championships.

Australian Kyle Chalmers, more than a full second behind Pan, took silver, while Romanian David Popovici got bronze.

Pan's superb performance won Team China their 9th gold medal at the Paris Games and their first in the pool. It was also the first swimming world record of this year's Games.