Romanian Olympic champion David Popovici qualified in style for the final of the European Under 23 Championships in Slovakia, with an excellent time achieved in the last semifinal heat of the 100-meter freestyle event, the queen discipline of swimming.
The Romanian entered the final heat, the sixth one, winning it convincingly with an excellent time of 47.37 seconds. This was despite finishing the first length of the pool in second place behind a swimmer from Croatia.
In the heats, Patrick Dinu (49.01), Mihai Gergely (50.62), and Ștefan Cozma (52.04) also competed. Dinu secured the 7th best time and will also advance to the final!
This is Popovici's second best time of the year for the 100 meters, following his 47.30 achieved in April at Otopeni during the National Championships. His personal best time is 46.86 seconds, set in 2022 at the European Championships in Rome, which was also a world record until February 2024.
The final of the 100-meter freestyle is scheduled for 7:25 PM, broadcast live on TVR Sport.
David Popovici has now dipped under the 48:00 seconds mark 33 times in this event, making him the swimmer with the most such performances in the world. He already has two medals in Samorin, Slovakia, a gold in the 200-meter freestyle and a bronze in the 50-meter event.