Current World Record holder in the men’s 100 free, David Popovici, has been reportedly ruled out of competing at the 2024 World Championships, set to be held in Doha, Qatar, this coming February. According to his coach, Adrian Radulescu, Popovici will instead opt to set his sights on the European Short Course Swimming Championships, which are set to be held in Otopeni, Romania, in December of this year.
In an article with AGERPRES, Radulescu states that they will stay local, traveling only to a small meet in Switzerland and the Romanian Nationals in November, as classes at university will have started. As Swimswam had previously reported, Popovici had announced his intentions to begin his studies at the University of Bucharest this fall, where he plans to study in the “Faculty of Psychology and Educational Science.”
The Romanian is the defending European Short Course champion in the 200 freestyle, winning in a time of 1:42.12, but since then, he swam 1:40.79, a time that earned him silver at the 2022 World Short Course Champs, behind only South Korea’s Hwang Sun-woo‘s Championship record time of 1:39.72.
Popovici, who made a name for himself in 2021 by finishing 4th at the Tokyo Olympics in the 200 free and 7th in the 100 free, had a breakout year in 2022, where he swept the 100 and 200 frees at the World Champs in Budapest, the European Champs in Rome and the World Junior Champs in Lima. However, this past summer in Fukuoka, Popovici was unable to replicate his form, finishing in 6th in the 100 free and 4th in the 200 free.
The 2024 World Champs were initially scheduled to occur in November of 2023 but were postponed to February of 2024 after the Fukuoka games were rescheduled to 2023 due to COVID concerns.
Popovici is not the only prominent athlete to publicly announce their intentions not to attend the 2024 Doha Worlds. In 2022, James Guy announced his intentions not to attend, and fellow Brits Adam Peaty and Duncan Scott were also reticent about the meet. Both the US and Australia have announced reduced team sizes for the meet as well as unusual qualifying procedures.
While the US and Australia have the luxury to send small squads, several nations may need to send a stronger-than-expected team, or at least a quartet, as relay qualification for Paris is still up for grabs. Only the Aussies and Americans qualified all of their relays in Fukuoka, and with the British squad DQing in the men’s 4×100 free relay, Guy and Scott may need to make the flight. In contrast, Popovici, who will have no likely relay swims in Paris, has no pressure to attend the meet in Doha.
Good for him! Hope it works out best for him.
kid is going to go far in life. In interviews, he seems mature well beyond his age and is probably highly intelligent. Good on him.
Was that his facial expression when he was asked if he would be going to Doha?
In other news McEvoy is going to Doha.
https://qld.swimming.org.au/news-articles/mcevoy-takes-just-22-seconds-kick-start-his-dohaparis-campaign-queensland-preparation
I get that he’s an extremely mature and interesting guy with lots to him outside the pool, but I’m a bit baffled by his decision to commit to so much work outside the pool in the Olympic year.
Who knows if he’ll get in a tragic car accident or something a few years from now and can’t swim anymore. Strike while the iron is hot now. It may be your only chance!
Seriously? That’s actually a terrible thing to ponder. Here’s to sending out the most positive vibes for one of the world’s most promising swimmers! He’s accomplished really amazing things already and I hope he thrives in the classroom this year! Perhaps a little distraction from the pressure will be just what he needs to do his best in the future.
Some people do work better juggling multiple tasks, but looking at his results last summer, his swimming clearly suffered.
Of course Underachieving Swimmer knows more than DP about preparing for major international swim meets…and more about what will make DP happy than DP himself.
Good Lord, what a horrible comment.
it is called living a 19 yo life. Trust me they don’t come back again once it is passed.
CD swam this week end in Switzerland (SCM) 21.83, 47.22, 1:43.68, 3:48
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBny7ggmJjM
For a minute I thought CD was referring to Dressel.
Oh I thought that too until this comment
Maybe we should says that Caeleb is CD1 and Chlorine Daddy is CD2, in the same way that the Campbell sisters are C1 and C2?
Let’s just not use the initials DP either. How about Chlorine Daddy or David Popovici.
ClD ? Sorry for the confusion
I’m all for focusing on school and other careers possibilities for the life after swimming but Popovici is the the kind of talent that would benefit from redshirting the year before the Olympics to be full power in Paris.
I dont think Hungry Redshirts at university, or even has university teams.
Maybe he’s pledging
Hungry? Even if you mean Hungary, he is from Romania.
What makes you think you more than DP on anything that has to do with: 1) swimming in general; 2) his life; or 3) what is in his own best interests?