{"id":513109,"date":"2022-09-18T05:42:24","date_gmt":"2022-09-18T12:42:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=513109"},"modified":"2022-09-18T05:42:24","modified_gmt":"2022-09-18T12:42:24","slug":"the-difference-between-david-popovici-and-other-sprint-greats-its-in-the-back-half","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/the-difference-between-david-popovici-and-other-sprint-greats-its-in-the-back-half\/","title":{"rendered":"The Difference Between David Popovici and Other Sprint Greats? It’s In The Back Half"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Difference Between David Popovici and Other Sprint Greats? All On Back Half<\/strong><\/p>\n

Over the summer, Romanian teenager David Popovici<\/strong> broke a record so many sprint greats fell just short of<\/a>.\u00a0Cesar Cielo<\/strong> was the standard-bearer in the 100 freestyle for 13 years, and in the period of time after polyurethane suits were banned at the end of 2009, five swimmers came within two tenths of Cielo’s record but could never get over the top.<\/p>\n

The list of swimmers who came oh-so-close included\u00a0Caeleb Dressel<\/strong>, the American who won world titles in the 100 free in 2017 and 2019 before winning gold in an exceptionally tight Olympic final last year, along with Australians\u00a0Cameron McEvoy<\/strong>,\u00a0Kyle Chalmers<\/strong> and\u00a0James Magnussen<\/strong> and Russia’s\u00a0Kliment Kolesnikov<\/strong>. When Cielo swam the 46.91, he was out in 22.17 and back in 24.74. Matching the Brazilian’s early speed has proven to be nearly impossible for anyone else in the world, so here’s how the challengers performed in the many close calls.<\/p>\n