Sustained Speed: With Another Sub-48 Effort, David Popovici Has Logged a Summer For the Ages
Sub-48 performances in the 100 freestyle are supposed to be challenging. David Popovici has made them seem commonplace. This summer, Popovici cracked the 48-second barrier on 16 occasions, including twice on leadoff legs of mixed relays. Mixed-relay leadoffs are not officially recognized, but they are worth noting. Of his 16 trips inside 48 seconds over the past few months, Popovici broke the 47-second mark on two occasions and logged nine performances quicker than 47.50. Of course, the premier effort was his world record of 46.86 at the World Championships in Rome.
Popovici’s sub-48 assaults originated from four meets: World Championships; European Junior Championships; European Championships; World Junior Championships. The teen has proven that it is possible to produce speedy performances over a sustained period. Between the World Championships and World Junior Championships, more than two months elapsed.
Here is a look at Popovici’s sub-48 efforts from this summer:
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)
47.34 (Euro Juniors-2022)
47.37 (World Juniors-2022)
47.54 (Euro Juniors-2022)
47.58 (Worlds-2022)
47.60 (Worlds-2022)
47.61 (World Juniors-2022)
47.69 (Euro Juniors-2022)
47.76 (Euro Juniors-2022)
47.85 (Euros-2022)
