David Popovici Breaks WJR to Win Gold at European Junior Championships, Anastasiia Markova Sets Championship Record

2021 European Junior Championships -- Photo Courtesy: deepbluemedia

David Popovici Breaks WJR to Win Gold at European Junior Championships, Anastasiia Markova Sets Championship Record

The third day of finals at the European Junior Championships saw one of the rising young stars in swimming continue his breakthrough week, another swimmer take down a 14-year-old championship record and an incredible finish in the longest men’s race on the program.

Romania’s David Popovici has been the star of the European Junior Championships so far, and he blasted another massive, reverberating performance in the men’s 100 freestyle final. After breaking the world junior record on a relay leadoff Tuesday, the 16-year-old Popovici swam a 47.30 in the individual 100 free final to smash that record and set the fastest time in the world this year. Popovici is now very much a part of the Olympic medal conversation after finishing just sixth at the European Championships less than two months ago.

“I am excited because of today’s result,” Popovici said, per LEN. “I knew I was able to swim a time like this. This also confirms that I am training well for Tokyo. I am not going to stop here. I am aiming for the Olympic podium. I am glad that my parents were here tonight and could see my swim. It is important to me to receive the support of my family before and after the races.”

Popovici’s fireworks overshadowed a strong heat of 100 freestylers. Great Britain’s Edward Mildred posted an impressive 48.77 for silver (just over an hour after qualifying for the 100 fly final), and Poland’s Mateusz Chowaniec took third in 49.37, just ahead of Russia’s Vladislav Reznichenko (49.40) and Portugal’s Diogo Matos Ribeiro (49.52)

In the women’s 200 butterfly final, Russia’s Anastasiia Markova led wire-to-wire and captured the gold medal in 2:08.41. That knocked off the meet record of 2:08.55 set by Hungary’s Emese Kovacs all the way back in 2007. Markova improved to 16th in the world rankings and the top Russian, ahead of countrywoman Svetlana Chimrova. Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Lana Pudar finished second in 2:09.59, and France’s Lucie Delmas, who had the lead for the first half of the race but faded down the stretch, took third in 2:10.42.

The men’s 1500 free saw Turkey earn a 1-3 finish. Turkey’s Yigit Aslan swam in first place for the first 1100 meters of the race, but countryman Mert Kilavuz passed him and then held off a furious charge from Hungary’s David Betlehem on the last 50 to win gold. Betlehem was more than two seconds behind Kilavuz with 50 meters to go, but he roared home in 26.90, compared to Kilavuz’s 28.88. However, it was too little, too late as Kilavuz swam a time of 15:02.22, while Betlehem came in 0.06 behind at 15:02.28. The men moved up to 14th and 15th, respectively, in the world rankings.

“I am grateful to my coach,” Kilavuz said. “It’s my first gold medal. I still have a lot of work to do.”

Responding to his tight defeat, Betlehem said, “Maybe it had to happen this way. It’s a bit hard to swallow to lose an 1500 free race by 0.06, especially when you swim a 26.70 last 50m, but I’m not crashed. my main event of the season is the open water Europeans in two weeks in Paris and I could really be happy to have already won a bronze at the senior Europeans in the open water team event, now this silver, and I have chance for more.”

Aslan held on for bronze in 15:05.08, just ahead of Russia’s Aleksandr Stepanov (15:05.90), with that duo moving to 17th and 22nd in the world, respectively.

Ukraine’s Volodymyr Lisovets’ dominated the European Junior Championships men’s 100 breast final by more than a second, posting a time of 1:00.28. Lithuania’s Aleksas Savickas took silver in 1:01.29, and Italy’s Simone Cerasuolo claimed bronze in 1:01.56. The women’s 100 back final went to Italy’s Erika Gaetani, who was more than a half-second behind France’s Mary-Ambre Moluh at the halfway point but roared home in 30.95 (to Moluh’s 31.84) to finish in front. Gaetani swam a 1:00.65, while Moluh and Great Britain’s Katie Shanahan tied for second in 1:00.93. Shanahan came home even quicker than Gaetani with her 30.86 split.

In the men’s 200 IM, Turkey’s Berke Saka out-split the rest of the field by more than a half-second on the breaststroke leg to take the lead, and then he held on to finish first in 2:00.04. Ukraine’s Vadym Naumenko (2:00.65) and Germany’s Cedric Buessing (2:01.84) were also among the top three finishers.

The last final of the evening was the mixed 400 medley relay, and Russia won gold by a little more than a second ahead of Ukraine. The team of Aleksei Tkachev (54.84), Georgii Glazunov (1:01.86), Daria Klepikova (58.89) and Daria Tatarinova (54.66) combined to swim a time of 3:50.25, ahead of Great Britain’s 3:51.48. Shanahan, Harvey Freeman, Mildred and Evelyn Davis swam for Britain. Ukraine’s foursome of Oleksandr Zheltyakov, Lisovets’, Viktoriya Kostromina and Karyna Snitko finished third in 3:54.03.

In European Junior Championships semifinals action, Bulgaria’s Josif Miladinov was the only man under 52 in the 100 fly with his 51.86 top qualifying time, and Great Britain’s Mildredwas the second qualifier in 52.26. Portugal’s Diego Matos Ribeiro (52.84) and Ukraine’s Andriy Kovalenko (52.99) were also under 53. France’s Justine Delmas led the way in the women’s 200 breast semifinals in 2:25.12, almost 2.5 seconds clear of the tie for second between Russia’s Elena Bogomolova and Estonia’s Eneli Jefimova in 2:27.57.

Poland’s Ksawery Masiuk edged Russia’s Aleksei Tkachev for the top seed in the men’s 50 back semifinals, 25.21 to 25.25, while Greece’s Anastasios Kougkoulos claimed the third seed in 25.72. Hungary’s Laura Veres led the way in the women’s 200 free semifinals in 1:59.03, and countrywoman Nikoletta Padar (1:59.52) and Great Britain’s Tamryn Van Selm (1:59.58) joined Veres under the 2:00 barrier.

Lisovets’ will be looking to add the 50 breast gold to his 100 breast title in Friday’s final after he qualified third for the final in 27.81. Cerasuolo, the 100-meter bronze medalist, was first in 27.61, followed by Ukraine’s Rostyslav Kryzhanivs’yy in 27.74. Russia’s Glazunov was also under 28 (27.95).

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