David Popovici Wins 200 Free In 1:45.10 At Romanian Championships; Seventh-Fastest Performance In 2024

David Popovici of Romania competes in the Men's Freestyle 200m Heats during the 20th World Aquatics Championships at the Marine Messe Hall A in Fukuoka (Japan), July 24th, 2023.

David Popovici: Photo Courtesy: Andrea Masini / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

David Popovici Wins 200 Free In 1:45.10 At Romanian Championships; Seventh-Fastest Performance In 2024

David Popovici went 1:45.10 in the 200 free at the Romanian National Championships for the seventh-swiftest performance in the world this year.

It was the eighth-best performance of a career that at 19 has already encompassed world records and world and European titles, topped by his 1:42.97 en-route to gold at the 2022 Europeans, a time only Paul Biedermann (1:42.00) and Michael Phelps (1:42.96) have eclipsed.

Popovici went 1:47.41 in prelims, the morning after winning the 50 free in 22.27, at the Otopeni Swimming Sports Complex, almost five seconds quicker than second-fastest qualifier Nandor Nagy.

Come the final and he split 24.98/26.97 (51.95)/26.92 (1:18.87) before a last 50 of 26.24 propelled him home in a season’s best, surpassing his 1:46.19 from the Euro Meet in January.

Mihai Gergely was second in 1:51.27 with Robert Andrei Badea taking bronze in 1:51.86, a day after the 16-year-old set a national 200IM record of 2:00.15.

Popovici goes sixth in the rankings behind 2023 world champion Matt Richards (1:44.69), Duncan Scott and Hwang Sunwoo (both 1:44.75), Danys Rapsys (1:44.96) and Tom Dean (1:45.09).

The five-day event doubles as the Olympic trials with Popovici having already booked his ticket to Paris in the 100 and 200 free where he’ll compete in his second Games following his debut in Tokyo.

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