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World Championships: Teen Stars David Popovici and Sunwoo Hwang Pace Qualifying in 200 Freestyle
When David Popovici graced the cover of Swimming World Magazine last October, the accompanying article was titled: “The Boy Who Might Be King.” The headline was a nod to the Romanian youngster’s vast talent and meteoric rise into the upper echelon of the sport, including a narrow miss of an Olympic medal as a 16-year-old.
Is Popovici’s official coronation just around the corner?
In the 200-meter freestyle at the World Championships, Popovici – now 17 – easily produced the fastest time of the preliminaries, his 1:45.18 a statement to the competition. The fourth-place finisher in the event at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Popovici looked powerful and smooth during his initial blast, splitting 50.95 at the 100-meter mark and coming home in 54.23.
Following Popovici in the second spot was fellow teenager Sunwoo Hwang of Korea, who also recorded a sub-1:46 effort for the morning. Like Popovici, Hwang was a finalist in the 100 freestyle and 200 freestyle in Tokyo and is also viewed as a future star. The Korean went through his opening swim in Budapest in 1:45.79.
Austrian Felix Aubock and Great Britain’s Tom Dean were both under 1:46 for their prelims swims, with Aubock notching a time of 1:45.84. Dean, the reigning Olympic gold medalist, went 1:45.99 and appears to be in tremendous form. On the opening day of the meet, Dean anchored the British 400 freestyle relay to fourth place with a split of 46.95.
American Drew Kibler was fifth in the morning, going 1:46.13, and was followed by Australia’s Elijah Winnington, who touched in 1:46.19. Winnington captured the gold medal in the 400 freestyle on Day One, using a closing flourish to pull away from Germany’s Lukas Martens. The German was seventh in qualifying for the 200 free, off a swim of 1:46.45.
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