World Champs Profile: Freestyle Ace David Popovici
Main into the beginning of the World Championships later this month, Swimming World will publish a handful of mini profiles on high contenders for the rostrum in Singapore. Our first entry on this sequence options David Popovici, the Romanian freestyle ace who emerged on the worldwide scene as a 16-year-old.
David PopoviciRomaniaEvents: 100 Freestyle/200 Freestyle
The Highway to Singapore
On the current European U-23 Championships, Popovici unleashed a pair of warning photographs to his competitors. After clocking the highest time on the planet within the 200 freestyle (1:43.64), the 20-year-old lowered his European report to 46.71 within the 100 freestyle, a efficiency that sits No. 2 within the historical past of the occasion. Solely China’s Pan Zhanle has been quicker, going 46.40 en path to Olympic gold final summer season. A showdown between Popovici and Pan is extremely anticipated in Singapore.
High Profession Achievement
On the 2024 Olympic Video games in Paris, Popovici discovered a option to prevail in one of many tightest races of the Video games. Behind an ideal end, the Romanian star touched the wall within the 200 freestyle in 1:44.72, simply .02 forward of silver medalist Matt Richards (Nice Britain) and .07 away from Luke Hobson, the American bronze medalist.
Earlier World Champs {Hardware}
On the 2022 version of the World Championships, which was held in Budapest, Popovici captured double gold – claiming victory within the 100 freestyle and 200 freestyle. That very same 12 months, he headlined the European Champs by setting a then-world report within the 100 freestyle (46.86) and a textile-best mark within the 200 freestyle (1:42.97).
Stat Reality
Based on the World Aquatics database, Popovici – regardless of his youth – has logged 32 performances in sub-48 territory within the 100 freestyle. That complete contains 4 visits into the 46-second vary and 14 efforts underneath 47.50. All of Popovici’s outings have come since 2021.
