David Popovici Joins List of Top Swimmers Planning to Skip February 2024 Worlds
Another edition of the World Aquatics Championships will take place in February, just over six months after the conclusion of the Fukuoka edition of the global showcase and just five months before the beginning of the Paris Olympics. The event ended up at an unusual place on the swimming calendar following after COVID-19 forced multiple shuffles of meet schedules. But even though the meet in Doha, Qatar, bears the title “World Championships,” don’t expect to see many of the world’s top performers in attendance.
Numerous British swimmers, including Adam Peaty, long ago announced their intentions to skip the meet, and USA Swimming will send a scaled-down roster with only one swimmer eligible for qualification per event. Now, add David Popovici to that group of swimmers set to be absent as the Paris Games beckon and Olympic preparation takes priority.
Popovici’s coach Adrian Radulescu told Romanian news outlet AGERPRES that Popovici is focusing on his university studies as well as short course competition in Europe over the next few months. According to Radulescu, Popovici is likely to swim at the Romanian Short Course Championships in early November followed by the European Short Course Championships set to take place on home turf, in Otopeni, December 5-10.
The Romanian star, who turned 19 last month, owns the world record in the 100 freestyle at 46.86 and ranks No. 3 all-time in the 200 free as the only man to ever break 1:43 in a textile suit. But Popovici unexpectedly struggled this summer at the Fukuoka Worlds. He faded from first to fourth on the final length of the 200 free final, and he ended up sixth in a tight 100-meter final.
Speaking in Fukuoka after concluding his event program, Popovici took the blame for his own struggles, saying he needed to “train better…,” to “train more, and most importantly, I need to be more consistent. That’s the glue that holds it all together.”
Indeed, Popovici still has the time and talent to turn his momentum around and recapture his 2022 glory in time for the Paris Games, where he will aim for his first Olympic medal after missing the 200 free podium in 2021 by just four hundredths.
These champs will be for the up and comers in the long run good for swimming