Editorial content for the 2023 World Aquatics Championships is sponsored by FINIS, a longtime partner of Swimming World and leading innovator of suits, goggles and equipment. The Achievements and Attributes That Make David Popovici Special For more than 10 years, the best swimmers in the world — heck, some of the best swimmers in history — could not achieve what David Popovici did last year at age 17. The world record in the men’s 100 freestyle, Cesar Cielo’s 46.91 from the height of the supersuit era in 2009, had survived one incursion after another. Caeleb Dressel came the closest with his 46.96 at the 2019 World Championships, and Australians Cameron McEvoy, Kyle Chalmers and James Magnussen all swam within two tenths. So did Russian Kliment Kolesnikov in his Olympic podium bid in 2021. But no, it was a Romanian teenager, one who covered the first 50 meters in 22.74, more than a half-second off Cielo’s 22.17 opening pace from the previous record, on his way to a time of 46.86 that was faster than anyone ever before. The difference with Popovici in the 100 free is closing speed no human being has ever achieved. In the swim where he knocked off the world record last August at the European Championships in Rome, Popovici closed in 24.12. A narrow lead with 25 meters remaining ballooned into nearly a bodylength, and that’s against elite swimmers such as Maxime Grousset, Alessandro Miressi and Kristof Milak, the world-record holder in the 200 butterfly. Two days later in the 200 free, it was a similar story, not a true world record this time but still an achievement a decade in the works. In 1:42.97, Popovici became only the third man ever under 1:43, the first since the elimination of polyurethane full-body swimwear at the start of 2010. In that 13-year period, only one other man (France’s Yannick Agnel) even swam under 1:44. The Olympic final in 2021 saw Great Britain’s Tom Dean take gold in 1:44.22. Suddenly, Popovici was more than one second quicker, putting Paul Biedermann’s world record of 1:42.00 on the watchlist for the first time. Now, Popovici is preparing to race in Fukuoka, Japan, at his second World Championships. His emergence as the world’s best freestyler is best exemplified by comparing his results from his first two global meets: at age 16, he made a name for himself just one month before the Tokyo Olympics, and he ended up qualifying for a pair of individual finals, finishing as high as fourth in the 200 free. Eleven months later, Popovici had a pair of world titles secured after an eye-opening performance in Budapest, with the world records that followed at the European Championships amplifying his legend. That said, Popovici is not some purely unbeatable force. All teenage swimmers have their weaknesses, and the world saw Popovici’s on a significant stage: at the Short Course World Championships in December 2022, he placed fourth in the 100 free before earning a silver in the 200 free, albeit setting world junior records in both events. OK, sure, Popovici does not excel in short course. Plenty of elite swimmers don’t, and many of them will sit out the late-year 25-meter circuit. David Popovici with his silver medal from the 2022 Short Course World Championships — Photo Courtesy: Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto Here was Popovici’s reaction to the meet in an Instagram post, containing hints of what makes this teenager unique: “I know most of the time I look or appear very confident, but coming into the Short Course World Championship, I doubted myself and my abilities. Before I started, I was just trying to be realistic in terms of what I could achieve, knowing I don’t like racing short course and also that I’m not so good at it. However, once I started, I realized that I am way stronger than I imagined and that it was all in my head.” He embraced his vulnerabilities and concerns. Rather than hide from a meet that would surely expose his flaws, Popovici made the trip to Melbourne and embraced the meet for what he could learn about himself and his swimming. After a year replete with gold medals, Popovici said that finishing with a silver and a fourth-place finish “was the perfect way of ending it.” A recent feature in El Pais revealed that, at the encouragement of coach Adrian Radulescu, Popovici reads literature from Greek philosophers in search of happiness. “It’s not the conventional happiness people talk about — laughing, tears of joy and big grins,” Popovici told El Pais. “It’s the happiness that comes from fulfillment. My definition of happiness is finding a balance, and the only thing that matters is what’s in my mind and heart. It’s when I feel good in training and races, regardless of the results.” Additionally, Popovici reflected on his appreciation for his home city of Bucharest and his urge to help those stricken by poverty. “You come across beautiful gigantic buildings, old, ruined palaces, classical and Latin buildings, and some from the communist era from which we haven’t fully recovered. There’s a whole lot of opulence and then you see all these homeless people with nowhere to spend the night,” he said. “There are lots of things that need fixing here. Eventually, I’d love to be a voice that reaches out to people who need help. I truly believe I can use my image to make a positive impact in my country.” Again, this is an 18-year-old, one with uncommon maturity and perspective unlike anything we would expect. It’s these emotional capacities that have allowed Popovici to not only commit to his craft in the pool but also to see a larger purpose in how his own swimming could impact others. He told El Pais, “Well, swimming is great but what’s even more important is using swimming to do good. Like teaching people how to find happiness through sports. Just do something! Get out there and move because we’re all stuck in these bodies for the rest of our lives!” Next week in Japan, Popovici will surely generate a worthy follow-up performance to his 2022 exploits. For the first time since the Olympic final, he will race head-to-head with another all-time top-10 performer in the 100 free, Chalmers, and the 25-year-old Australian is the only man who has ever achieved finishing speed even comparable to Popovici. During his own teenage years, Chalmers captured 100 free Olympic gold in 2016 by closing in 24.44 to move from seventh place at the halfway point into the lead by the end. Chalmers has been as fast as 47.44 in the 100 free this year while China’s Pan Zhanle leads the world rankings at 47.22, while Miressi, Grousset and Josh Liendo all have 47-mid credentials. Popovici has not popped off any crazy times so far this year, but he has broken 48 on a whopping 21 occasions over the past two years. Stopping Popovici over 200 meters will be even more challenging than in the 100, with no one in the field having ever broken 1:44. Hwang Sunwoo, the silver medalist behind Popovici at last year’s Worlds and only 20 years old, leads the world rankings for 2023 thus far at 1:44.61, and Hwang could push to join the 1:43 club that only five other men have ever reached. But look for Popovici to continue narrowing the gap on Biedermann’s record. Really, we cannot rule out the possibility of Popovici continuing the trend of meteoric improvement and reaching the 1:41 territory next week. Of course not. He’s a special talent with the character indicative of a high-achieving champion.
