{"id":609746,"date":"2025-04-12T08:49:23","date_gmt":"2025-04-12T15:49:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=609746"},"modified":"2025-04-12T14:37:47","modified_gmt":"2025-04-12T21:37:47","slug":"david-popovici-fires-off-47-30-100-free-prelim-in-otopeni","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/david-popovici-fires-off-47-30-100-free-prelim-in-otopeni\/","title":{"rendered":"David Popovici Fires Off 47.30 100 Free Prelim In Otopeni; Misses Final With Back Pain"},"content":{"rendered":"

David Popovici Fires Off 47.30 100 Free Prelim In Otopeni; Misses Final With Back Pain<\/h4>\n

David Popovici<\/strong> posted a 47.30 scorcher in the 100 free prelims before withdrawing from the final because of back pain on the penultimate day of the Romanian Championships<\/strong> in Otopeni.<\/p>\n

The 2022 world and European champion split 22.96\/24.34 for the joint-ninth fastest performance of his career as he matched the time that secured gold at the 2021 European Junior Championships<\/strong>, then a WJR. A year later he became the world record-holder in the same Foro Italico pool in Rome in 46.86 with Pan Zhanle<\/strong> lowering that to 46.80 at the 2024 worlds in Doha before his eye-watering 46.40 at Paris 2024<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

It fires the Olympic 200 free champion to second in the rankings behind Rio 2016 gold medallist Kyle Chalmers<\/strong> and his 47.27 from Bergen a couple of weeks ago.<\/p>\n

Popovici set a Romanian record of 21.83 in the 50 free and posted 1:45.07 over 200m before his prelims scorcher.<\/p>\n

He was also slated to enter the 100 fly on Sunday in which he holds the national record of 52.30 but it appears he now won’t line up in that.<\/p>\n

He posted to social media, saying: “Should have competed in the 100m freestyle final today, one of my favourites.. however, unfortunately, the back pain did not allow me to go into the pool. It was a hard decision but necessary. Sometimes, the bravest thing you can do as an athlete is know when to say “stop” to take care of your body and your path long-term. Even though it was hard for me to watch the race from the sidelines, my heart was full because of you. I didn\u2019t want to disappoint the kids who came to see me, so I spent some time with them. Thank you all for your support and understanding – I will come back stronger!”<\/p>\n

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The final went ahead without Popovici with Patrick Dinu<\/strong> going 48.70 for victory to go second all-time performer in Romania.\u00a0Alex. Richard Szilagyi\u00a0<\/strong>was second in 49.85 with Mihai Gergely<\/strong> third in 50.52.<\/p>\n

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Rebecca Diaconescu: Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick<\/p><\/div>\n

Rebecca Diaconescu\u00a0<\/strong>added the women’s 100 title to her 200 and 400 free crowns as the only woman inside 56secs in 55.97. Irina Ana Preda<\/strong> came back on the second 50 to touch 0.07 behind in 56.04 with Ioana Maria Stirbu\u00a0<\/strong>third in 56.75.<\/p>\n

Daria Mariuca Silisteanu<\/strong> set a Romanian record in the first final of the day with 28.28 in the 50 back. With that time she cut 0.18 from the standard of 28.46 she set en-route to bronze at the 2023 European juniors and secured the 50\/100 double. She was well clear of Aissia Claudia Prisecariu<\/strong> who clocked 29.42 in second with Theodora Maria Dumitru<\/strong> third in 30.04.<\/p>\n

Denis Laurean Popescu<\/strong> also clinched the 50\/100 double when he stopped the clock at 25.44 with Andrei Ungur<\/strong> (25.74) and\u00a0Andrei Mircea Anghel<\/strong> (25.94) following him to the rostrum.<\/p>\n

Daria Asaftei\u00a0<\/strong>completed a clean sweep of the breaststroke events with a dominant 100 win in 1:09.32, just 0.07 shy of Henrietta Fangli’s national record of 1:09.25 from 2023 before she switched sporting nationality to Hungary. It’s been a fine meet for Asaftei who set a Romanian mark of 31.67 in the 50 and won the 200 in 2:30.01. Brigitta Vass\u00a0<\/strong>came from 0.26 down at the final turn to go past Tamara Lospa\u00a0<\/strong>and take second in 2:11.48 to 2:11.61 as the trio replicated the outcome of the one-length event.<\/p>\n

Darius Coman<\/strong> overcame a 0.46 deficit at halfway to win the men’s 100m breaststroke in 1:01.43 and clinch the 100\/200 double. Daniel Alexandru Nicusan\u00a0<\/strong>was second in 1:01.61 as he claimed his third breaststroke medal in Otopeni following 50 gold and 200 silver with Danis Volontir<\/strong> third in 1:02.15.<\/p>\n

Robert Badea<\/strong> clinched the IM double with victory by more than 10secs over 400. The European junior champion stopped the clock at 4:17.50 ahead of Vlad Stancu<\/strong> (4:27.60) and Nimrod Kalman Koncz<\/strong> (4:36.22). Badea won the 200IM earlier in the meet in a Romanian record of 1:59.95.<\/p>\n

Rebeca Jasmine Veress<\/strong> was the only woman inside 5mins as she claimed the long medley title in 4:57.63 ahead of Ana Maria Sibiseanu<\/strong> (5:00.73) and Tamara Lospa<\/strong> (5:06.06).<\/p>\n

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