Faster Than Dressel At 16, Popovici (ROU) Hits Lifetime Best 49.26 100 Free (original) (raw)
2020 ROMANIAN NATIONAL SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- September 30th – October 3rd
- Bucharest, Romania
- LCM (50m)
Young stars are emerging from seemingly every corner of the globe in the sport of swimming.
For instance, late last month we saw an eye-popping outing in the men’s 100m freestyle from Japanese 16-year-old Konosuke Yanagimoto. Yanagimoto hit a big-time personal best of 49.41 to establish a new Japanese High School Record.
Splitting 23.77/25.64, Yanagimoto’s 49.41 PB would have ranked him as the 3rd fastest 15-16-year-old all-time in the United States, sitting only behind Caeleb Dressel’s 49.28 and Destin Lasco’s 49.40.
However, flash forward to this weekend and another promising talent has raced his way to the forefront in the form of Romania’s David Popovici.
Popovici already made his mark on the international racing scene through his breakthrough performances at last year’s European Youth Olympic Festival. There in Baku Popovici beat out Great Britain’s teen sensation Jacob Whittle in the men’s 100m freestyle, posting a lifetime best of 49.82 as a 14-year-old.
Now at age 16 (birth date is 09/15/2004), Popovici found another gear to top the 100m free podium at this year’s Romanian National Championships. The teen blasted a new personal best of 49.26 on the final day of competition in Bucharest.
His 49.26 would rank the Romanian faster than multi-Olympic medalist and multi-world champion **Caeleb Dressel**‘s aforementioned 49.28 from his 15-16 age group days. Additionally, Popovici inserts himself onto the list of Europe’s fastest 18 & U for the season in slot #2 behind Russia’s Andrei Minakov.
Top
1. 48.78, Andrei Minakov (RUS)
3. 49.27, Josif Miladinov (BUL)
4. 49.54, Matt Richards (GBR)
5. 49.57, Vladyslav Bukhov (UKR)
Popovici owns two FINA ‘B’ Olympic-qualifying times for next year’s Games in Tokyo, including the 100m and 200m freestyle events. The freestyle ace is coached by Adrian Radulescu of CSA Steaua Bucaresti.
In This Story
Caeleb Dressel
David Popovici
About Retta Race
Former Masters swimmer and coach Loretta (Retta) thrives on a non-stop but productive schedule. Nowadays, that includes having earned her MBA while working full-time in IT while owning French 75 Boutique while also providing swimming insight for BBC.