World Championships, Day 2 Prelims: David Popovici Third in Jumbled 200 Free

David Popovici of Romania receives the Athlete of the Year award during the 20th World Aquatics Championships at the Marine Messe Hall A in Fukuoka (Japan), July 23rd, 2023.

Photo Courtesy: Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

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World Championships, Day 2 Prelims: David Popovici Third in Jumbled 200 Free

The 2023 World Championships got its first look at David Popovici Monday morning in Fukuoka, Japan. It was enough to whet the appetite.

Popovici swam 1:45.82 in prelims of the men’s 200 freestyle, comfortably into the semifinals with the third-fastest time. The Romanian wunderkind was one of three swimmers under 1:46, setting up a loaded finals field.

Luke Hobson set the pace in the preliminary heats with a time of 1:45.69. Great Britain’s Matthew Richards edged out Popovici by .04 seconds in the final morning heat to get into the semifinals with the second seed. Tom Dean joins him in the top four, in 1:46.02. A scant 1.01 seconds separated finishers one through 16, and the spread from one through 26 was just 1.67 seconds.

It’s a testament to the burgeoning depth in the event, which hasn’t been quite this exciting in years – perhaps since the latter days of Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte and Paul Biedermann around 2012, and then not at this depth, maybe since the halcyon days of Ian Thorpe and Pieter van den Hoogenband.

The first of three circle-seeded heats was wonderfully chaotic, with eight times in the 1:46s. Kieran Smith got his hand out of the wash to get to the wall first in 1:46.38, with seven followers in the next six tenths. Among them was Japan’s Katsuhiro Matsumoto, who to the delight of the home crowd went 1:46.44 to finish eighth overall, and Pan Zhanle, who was running seventh at the 150 split but rallied to 1:46.49 for 11th overall. Two of the 1:46s would end up on the outside looking in on semis.

Smith’s time makes him the sixth seed.

Hobson stamped his authority on the penultimate heat. Closest to him was Dean. Popovici and Richards were stroke for stroke coming home, not that the final placement mattered all that much.

South Korea placed two in the semifinal, though maybe not in the order you’d expect. Lee Hojoon finished fifth in 1:46.21. Sunwoo Hwang struggled, though, in a three-way tie for 13th in 1:46.69. Australia only got one swimmer into the final, Alexander Graham ringing the bell in 12th.

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