A federal appeals court sided with Texas on Tuesday, saying that the state does not have to remove a water buoy barrier placed in the Rio Grande to deter illegal immigration.

 China’s Pan Zhanle won a decisive victory in the men’s 100 freestyle on Wednesday, beating the rest of the field at the Olympic Games in Paris by a full second and setting a new world record — and immediately threw shade at two of his competitors, Kyle Chalmers (AUS) and Jack Alexy (USA).

Pan finished the race in 46.40, knocking 0.4 off his previous world record time set earlier this year and the world championships in Doha, Qatar: “Today I finally beat them all. In such a challenging pool, I broke the world record. This is a tremendous performance and a great start for team China.”

But a short time after the race, he told reporters that some of the other swimmers had been less than friendly towards him.

“When I finished the 4×100 freestyle relay the other day, I said ‘hi’ to Chalmers, but he totally ignored me. Also [Jack] Alexy from the U.S. When we were training, our coach was standing by the poolside and he turned in such a way that the water splashed right onto the coach. I felt he looked down on us a little,” Pan said in an interview.

Chalmers, who won gold at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and had hoped to repeat that victory in Paris, finished just over a second behind Pan for the silver medal — but he did not recall any instance in which he had given the Chinese athlete the cold shoulder.

“I find it a bit weird. I gave him a fist pump before the relays … and then my focus went to my teammates and my own racing. We had a laugh together at warmdown last night, but no issues from my end,” he said.

Alexy, who finished seventh in Wednesday’s final, did not comment on Pan’s claim.

 

As ESPN reported, “the Chinese swim team has been under intense scrutiny” leading up to the Paris Olympic Games after it was revealed that a number of athletes had tested positive for banned substances in 2021 but were still allowed to compete in the Tokyo Games. China has repeatedly blamed “contaminated food” when athletes test positive for banned substances.

For his part, Chalmers did not question Pan’s Wednesday victory or his new world record: “For him to produce a 46.40 and break the world record in the Olympic final is incredible. I do everything I possibly can to win the race, and guess everyone’s doing the same as I am and staying true to the sport and integrity of sport. I trust that he’s done everything he possibly can to be there. And he deserves that gold medal. And I did everything I possibly could to challenge for that gold medal.”

American distance swimmer Katie Ledecky weighed in on the use of performance-enhancing substances before the Olympics, saying, “I hope everyone here (in Paris) is going to be competing clean this week. But what really matters also is: Were they training clean? Hopefully, that’s been the case. Hopefully, there’s been even testing around the world.”