David Popovici Propels Romania To 4×100 Free Gold With 47.54 Lead-Off; 50 Back CR For Mary-Ambre Moluh
David Popovici led off the Romanian men’s 4×100 free team in 47.54 as the quartet won gold in front of a home crowd on day one of the European Junior Championships in Bucharest.
It was quicker than the time in which he won the World Championships in Budapest when he stopped the clock at 47.58 after setting a world junior record of 47.13 in the semis.
Emma Carrasco took the first gold of the meet in the 400IM, Italy won the women’s freestyle relay and Mary-Ambre Moluh set a championship record of 27.75 in the women’s 50 back semis, a time that would have secured seventh at the World Championships.
It sliced 0.07 from Daria Vaskina‘s time of 27.82 at the 2019 edition in Kazan, the Russians not competing in Romania due to the ban imposed following the invasion of Ukraine.
David Popovici & Romania 4×100 free; Photo Courtesy: Simone Castrovillari
Popovici had already qualified for the 200 free final in 1:47.93, second behind Lorenzo Galossi who led the way into the men’s 200 free final in 1:47.73.
The teenager returned for the final event of the evening and handed over 1.15secs ahead of Britain’s Jacob Whittle who clocked 48.69 with Lithuania’s Daniil Pancerevas the only other man inside 50secs in 49.97.
Alex Painter (49.91) guided Britain to a 0.05 lead at halfway which Evan Jones (49.80) extended to 0.81 handing over to Reuben Rowbotham-Keating for the final leg.
Patrick-Sebastian Dinu came back at him though and his time of 49.72 to the Briton’s 50.61 was enough to guide him into first place in 3:18.93, 0.08secs ahead of Britain in 3:19.01 with Italy third in 3:19.42.
Popovici said:
“I think this was a great performance from this relay, and it was fantastic to swim in front of so many people in this pool.
“My 47.5 looks nice I think, especially after a 200m free. I’m glad that the boys did their best and we could win at the end.”
Carrasco Sets The Ball Rolling; Biagiotti Anchors Italy Home
Emma Carrasco Cadens: Photo Courtesy: Simone Castrovillari
Carrasco was third at the 250 mark before moving clear of the field to hold a 1.77sec lead going into the freestyle.
The 16-year-old Spaniard stopped the clock at 4:46.39 for gold with 14-year-old Belis Sakar of Turkey coming home in 31.68 to take second in 4:47.11 with Vivien Jackl third in 4:47.51 as both women overhauled Lisa Nystrand on the final 50 with the Swede finishing fourth.
Carrasco said:
“Before the race I was a bit nervous as my morning swim wasn’t quite good.
“I wanted to focus on my technique in the final as it didn’t work as expected in the heats.
“I didn’t have any exact plan for the final, just wanted to swim my own race, do my own pace, and I’m really happy that I could take the gold medal.”
Matilde Biagiotti propelled Italy’s women to the freestyle relay title as her anchor leg of 54.80 guided them past France and into the wall in 3:42.98.
France were second in 3:43.49 while Nina Jazy split 54.65 to guide Germany past Britain and into third in 3:45.63.
Sara Curtis, who swam a 56.50 third leg for Italy, said:
“I’m so happy since a dream already came true when I was selected for this relay. And now we did it, we won the gold medal, this is so amazing.
“I think we all did our best, our coaches told us that they were really satisfied with our swims.”
Semi-Final Round-Up
Krzysztof Chmielewski went 1:56.36 to lead the way into the men’s 200 fly final, 1.49secs ahead of twin Michal (1:57.85), the pair booking the centre lanes as they seek to repeat their gold and silver-medal performances from last year.
Ksawery Masiuk headed the boys’ 50 back in 24.74, a race in which he won bronze in Budapest albeit briefly elevated to silver following the DQ of Justin Ress before the American was reinstated to gold.
Koen de Groot headed the men’s breaststroke sprint in 27.61.
Nikoletta Padar booked lane four in the women’s 200 free final in 1:58.86 while Eneli Jefimova was 0.09 slower than the morning heats in the 50br but still set the pace in 30.59