That stood as a world record<\/a> until Pan went 46.80 on the leadoff for the Chinese men’s 4×1 free relay that won gold at the World Championships in Doha before his astonishing performance at last year’s Olympics.<\/p>\nPopovici posted 47.37 in prelims, only pulling away down the final 25 to indicate something special to come. And so it proved with the Romanian splitting 22.73\/23.98 with an historic sub-24 second 50 propelling him to his fourth journey inside 47. In comparison, his splits when he set the then world record in 2022 were 22.74\/24.12.<\/p>\n
Popovici’s top five performances come in at 46.71, 46.86 (2022 European Championships), 46.88 (2024 European Championships), 46.98 (2022 Europeans, semis) and 47.07 from the 2022 world juniors.<\/p>\n
Only Jack Alexy<\/strong> had broken 47 this year with a time of 46.99 at the US Championships earlier this month before Popovici’s exploits in Slovakia with Pan’s season’s best standing at 47.77.<\/p>\n\u201cI would say it was pretty fast but I wouldn\u2019t say it was unexpected because I have been feeling well,\u201d Popovici told\u00a0European Aquatics<\/em>. \u201cWe haven\u2019t tapered for this meet, we maybe slowed down a few kilometres but I try to say all the time a happy swimmer is a fast swimmer and if I\u2019m relaxed enough and I\u2019m happy in my personal life as well then I can achieve what I love most.<\/p>\n\u201cI absolutely think it\u2019s possible (breaking the world record). The same way it was possible for Pan to break it, the same way it was possible for me three years ago, I feel records are made to be broken and slowly but surely I\u2019m making\u00a0my\u00a0way\u00a0to\u00a0it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Top Five Performers All-Time<\/h4>\n
46.40: Pan Zhanle, Paris 2024<\/p>\n
46.71: David Popovici, European Aquatics U23 Championships 2025<\/p>\n
46.91: Cesar Cielo, 2009 World Championships<\/p>\n
46.94: Alain Bernard, 2009 French Championships<\/p>\n
46.96: Caeleb Dressel, 2019 World Championships<\/p>\n