David Popovici Goes Sub-48 Once Again As Romanian Cup Concludes In Otopeni
The Romanian Cup concluded in Otopeni after a weekend in which David Popovici went 47.85 in the 100 free while also rattling his national 100 fly mark.
Popovici wasn’t the only man to command the spotlight with three-time world junior medallist Vlad Stancu completing a successful – if gruelling – programme.
Popovici’s time matched the 47.85 he did leading off the Romanian quartet in the 4×100 prelims at the 2022 European Championships.
That followed his progression of 47.20 (prelims) and 46.98 (semis) in Rome before he went on to set the world record of 46.86 at the Foro Italico.
The 18-year-old’s performance at the Romanian Cup was his 21st journey inside 48 seconds and his second-swiftest of the season following his 47.61 at the Romanian Championships in April which stands second in the rankings behind Pan Zhanle’s 47.22 from the Chinese Nationals.
A list of the 21 occasions in which David Popovici has cracked the 48-second barrier in the 100 freestyle:
46.86 (Euros-2022)
46.98 (Euros-2022)
47.07 (World Juniors-2022)
47.13 (Worlds-2022)
47.13 (World Juniors-2022)
47.20 (Euros-2022)
47.23 (World Juniors-2022)
47.30 (Euro Juniors-2021)
47.34 (Euro Juniors-2022)
47.37 (World Juniors-2022)
47.54 (Euro Juniors-2022)
47.56 (Euro Juniors-2021)
47.58 (Worlds-2022)
47.60 (Worlds-2022)
47.61 (World Juniors-2022)
47.61 (Romanian Champs-2023)
47.69 (Euro Juniors-2022)
47.72 (Olympics-2021)
47.76 (Euro Juniors-2022)
47.85 (Euros-2022 & Romanian Cup-2023)
The two-time world champion also went 52.45 in the 100 fly – 0.15 outside his Romanian record of 52.30 set at the Romanian nationals in April.
On Sunday he went 1:47.39 in the 200 free prelims although he didn’t compete in the finals.
Stancu won four titles over the three-day meet, starting off with a 3:47.17 PB in the 400 free.
On Saturday he completed a gruelling 200 fly (2:00.17) and 1500 double, going 15:32.87 in the longest race in the pool.
The 17-year-old returned on Sunday to post 7:59.80 in the 800 free.