World Junior Champs: He’s Back At It! David Popovici Fires Off Another Big Time in 100 Freestyle
The World Junior Championships opened in Peru on Tuesday, and the headliner of the event wasted no time putting together the latest standout performance of his summer.
As Romania qualified as the top seed for the final of the 400-meter freestyle relay, David Popovici led off in a stellar 47.37 to power his country to a clocking of 3:19.28 during prelims. Popovici is racing at World Juniors just a couple of weeks after setting a world record of 46.86 in the 100 freestyle at the European Championships in Rome. He’s expected to lead off the final at night, and Popovici could uncork a mark in the territory of his new world record.
Popovici was joined on the relay by Alexandru Constantinescu (51.25), Stefan Cozma (51.19) and Patrick Dinu (49.47). Lithuania advanced as the second seed in 3:21.28.
In the men’s 100 backstroke, Poland’s Ksawery Masiuk and South Africa’s Pieter Coetze got off to impressive starts, with Ksawery clocking in at 53.76. Coetze also dipped under the 54-second barrier, going 53.93. Meanwhile, Mio Narita of Japan was quickest in the women’s 400 individual medley, touching the wall in 4:45.29. Narita captured the gold medal in the event at last week’s Junior Pan Pacific Championships in Hawaii.
Other top seeds for the final were claimed by:
Men’s 400 Freestyle: Stephan Steverink (Brazil) 3:50.24
Women’s 50 Breaststroke: Karolina Piechowicz (Poland) 31.64
Men’s 100 Breaststroke: Luka Mladenovic (Austria) 1:02.29
Women’s 100 Backstroke: Aimi Nagaoka (Japan) 1:01.74
Women’s 800 Freestyle Relay: Italy 8:23.08
