2022 FINA SHORT COURSE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Tuesday, December 13 to Sunday, December 18, 2022
- Melbourne Sports and Aquatics Centre, Melbourne, Australia
- SCM (25m)
- Prize Money
- Meet Site
- Meet Schedule
- How To Watch
- Meet Roster Index
- Psych Sheets (Updated)
- Live Results
Results:
- GOLD: Sunwoo Hwang (South Korea) – 1:39.72 (Championship Record)
- SILVER: David Popovici (Romania) – 1:40.79
- BRONZE: Tom Dean (Great Britain) – 1:40.86
- Drew Kibler (United States) – 1:41.44
- Thomas Neill (Australia) – 1:41.55
- Maxime Grousset (France) – 1:41.56
- Danas Rapsys (Lithuania) – 1:41.74
- Katsuhiro Matsumoto (Japan) – 1:41.91
In the final of the men’s 200 free, Romania’s David Popovici clocked a personal best time of 1:40.79 to set a new Romanian record, while narrowly missing Matthew Sates‘ World Junior Record time of 1:40.65.
Popovici picked up a silver medal in this race, touching the wall about a second behind South Korea’s Sunwoo Hwang. At the halfway point, he was trailing both Hwang and Tom Dean by a few tenths of a second, but put together the fastest back half of the field with a split of 51.67 for the final 100.
Popovici entered the meet with a 1:42.12, which was also the previous Romanian record. He swam just off that time in prelims, qualifying for finals in 6th with a 1:42.31.
Popovici is now the 8th-fastest performer of all-time in the event. Hwang moved up to be the 3rd-fastest performer of all-time, joining the exclusive sub-1:40 club.
All-Time Top 10 Performers:
- Paul Biedermann (GER) – 1:39.37 (2009)
- Yannick Agnel (FRA) – 1:39.70 (2012)
- Sunwoo Hwang (KOR) – 1:39.72 (2022)
- Danila Izotov (RUS) – 1:40.08 (2009)
- Duncan Scott (GBR) – 1:40.25 (2020)
- Townley Haas (USA) – 1:40.49 (2020)
- Matthew Sates (RSA) – 1:40.65 (2021)
- David Popovici (ROU) – 1:40.79 (2022)
- Cameron McEvoy (AUS)/Brent Hayden (CAN) – 1:40.80 (2015/2009)
What happened in the 400?
Yeah, I was waiting for an interview or a quote.
He used it as a warmup
Hwang’s time is incorrect in the second list
Loved the interaction between David and Thorpe at the medal ceremony. David and his coach have to be pleased with the results in both his events. Making both finals when you have neither the experience nor the love for SCM is quite an accomplishment. Looking forward to watching his progress in 2023 and beyond.
Popovici is a standout. Poised, calm, dignified, and focused, particularly for someone so young. Also: graceful as a cat. And! beautiful stroke technique. I look forward to watching his progress over the next years.
I didn’t see it commented on, but before getting on the blocks for the 200, he shook the hand of the swimmer on each side of him, and spoke to each of them, I’m imagining wishing them luck. So classy.
Fantastic progress. I’m sure in no more than 3 years he will manage to be world champion in SC too, 100/200/400 fr.
Not sure about the 400