{"id":506852,"date":"2022-06-19T01:37:17","date_gmt":"2022-06-19T08:37:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=506852"},"modified":"2022-06-19T01:39:48","modified_gmt":"2022-06-19T08:39:48","slug":"world-championships-teen-stars-david-popovici-and-sunwoo-hwang-pace-qualifying-in-200-freestyle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/world-championships-teen-stars-david-popovici-and-sunwoo-hwang-pace-qualifying-in-200-freestyle\/","title":{"rendered":"World Championships: Teen Stars David Popovici and Sunwoo Hwang Pace Qualifying in 200 Freestyle"},"content":{"rendered":"

World Championships: Teen Stars David Popovici and Sunwoo Hwang Pace Qualifying in 200 Freestyle<\/strong><\/p>\n

When David Popovici<\/strong> graced the cover of Swimming World Magazine last October, the accompanying article was titled: \u201cThe Boy Who Might Be King.\u201d The headline was a nod to the Romanian youngster\u2019s vast talent and meteoric rise into the upper echelon of the sport, including a narrow miss of an Olympic medal as a 16-year-old.<\/p>\n

Is Popovici\u2019s official coronation just around the corner?<\/p>\n

In the 200-meter freestyle at the World Championships, Popovici \u2013 now 17 \u2013 easily produced the fastest time of the preliminaries, his 1:45.18 a statement to the competition. The fourth-place finisher in the event at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Popovici looked powerful and smooth during his initial blast, splitting 50.95 at the 100-meter mark and coming home in 54.23.<\/p>\n

Following Popovici in the second spot was fellow teenager Sunwoo Hwang<\/strong> of Korea, who also recorded a sub-1:46 effort for the morning. Like Popovici, Hwang was a finalist in the 100 freestyle and 200 freestyle in Tokyo and is also viewed as a future star. The Korean went through his opening swim in Budapest in 1:45.79.<\/p>\n

Austrian Felix Aubock<\/strong> and Great Britain\u2019s Tom Dean<\/strong> were both under 1:46 for their prelims swims, with Aubock notching a time of 1:45.84. Dean, the reigning Olympic gold medalist, went 1:45.99 and appears to be in tremendous form. On the opening day of the meet, Dean anchored the British 400 freestyle relay to fourth place with a split of 46.95.<\/p>\n

American Drew Kibler<\/strong> was fifth in the morning, going 1:46.13, and was followed by Australia\u2019s Elijah Winnington<\/strong>, who touched in 1:46.19. Winnington captured the gold medal in the 400 freestyle on Day One, using a closing flourish to pull away from Germany\u2019s Lukas Martens<\/strong>. The German was seventh in qualifying for the 200 free, off a swim of 1:46.45.<\/p>\n