{"id":508169,"date":"2022-07-05T02:16:26","date_gmt":"2022-07-05T09:16:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=508169"},"modified":"2022-07-05T02:16:26","modified_gmt":"2022-07-05T09:16:26","slug":"david-popovici-goes-148-to-head-the-200-free-as-european-juniors-get-under-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/david-popovici-goes-148-to-head-the-200-free-as-european-juniors-get-under-way\/","title":{"rendered":"David Popovici Goes 1:48 To Head The 200 Free As European Juniors Get Under Way"},"content":{"rendered":"

David Popovici<\/strong> returned to the water a fortnight after the nature of his double World Championship triumph evoked memories of Ian Thorpe to set the pace in the 200 free at the European Junior Championships in his native Romania.<\/p>\n

The 17-year-old went 1:43.21 in Budapest<\/a>, a new world junior record but notably became the fourth-fastest man in history over 200 behind only the shiny-suited world record of Paul Biedermann<\/strong> (1:42.00), Michael Phelps<\/strong> (1:42.96) and Yannick Agnel<\/strong>, whose 1:43.14 at the 2012 Olympics is the textile standard.<\/p>\n