Popovici Continues 100 Free Rampage With 47.30 WJR, #1 Worldwide This Season

2021 EUROPEAN JUNIOR SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Tuesday, July 6th – Sunday, July 11th
• Foro Italico, Rome, Italy
• Heats at 9:30 am local (3:30 am EST)/Finals at 6 pm local (Noon EST)
• LCM (50m)
• Live Results
• Live Stream
• Day 1 Prelims Recap | Day 1 Finals Recap
• Day 2 Prelims Recap | Day 2 Finals Recap
• Day 3 Prelims Recap | Day 3 Finals Recap

David Popovici lowered the men’s 100 freestyle world junior record for the second time in a matter of days to a 47.30 at the 2021 European Junior Swimming Championships. Popovici first brought the world junior record to a 47.56 on day 1 of the meet while swimming the opening leg of Romania’s 4×100 freestyle relay.

Popovici’s first WJR-breaking swim got under Andrei Minakov’s mark of 47.57 from October 2020 and now that he’s gone another 0.26 seconds faster, is the quickest junior in the history of the event by 0.27 seconds. Prior to Minakov, Australia’s Kyle Chalmers held the world junior record at a 47.58 which he swam at the 2016 Olympic Games to win gold.

Split Comparison:

Popovici’s swim is not only the fastest swim from a junior in history but it is also the fastest swim from anyone worldwide this season, beating out Kliment Kolesnikov‘s 47.31 by just 0.01 seconds. Popovici’s previous time was the 4th ranked swim in the world but he has now passed USA’s Caeleb Dressel and Italy’s Alessandro Miressi, along with Kolesnikov.

Along with jumping to the #1 position in the world this year, Popovici is now the 10th fastest man in the history of the event. He will be racing the event for Romania at the Olympics this year and has quickly gone from a dark horse (in fact, he was SwimSwam’s official darkhorse pick for the event just last week) to a favorite to medal. Among those who will present at the Games, Popovici ranks 4th in history behind Caeleb Dressel, Kyle Chalmers, and Brent Hayden.

1. Cesar Cielo (BRA) – 46.91 (2009)
2. Alain Bernard (FRA) – 46.94 (2009)
3. Caeleb Dressel (USA) – 46.96 (2019)
4. Cam McEvoy (AUS) – 47.04 (2016)
5. Eamon Sullivan (AUS) – 47.05 (2008)
6. Kyle Chalmers (AUS) – 47.08 (2019)
7. James Magnussen (AUS) – 47.10 (2012)
8. Freddy Bousquet (FRA) – 47.25 (2009)
9. Brent Hayden (CAN) – 47.27 (2009)
10. David Popovici (ROU) – 47.30 (2021)
11. Kliment Kolesnikov (RUS) – 47.31 (2021)
12. David Walters (USA) – 47.33 (2009)
13. Stefan Nystrand (SWE) – 47.37 (2009)
14. Ryan Held (USA) – 47.39 (2019)
15. Vladislav Grinev (RUS) – 47.43 (2019)
16. Alessandro Miressi (ITA) – 47.45 (2021)
17. Michael Phelps (USA) – 47.51 (2008)
18. Nathan Adrian (USA) – 47.52 (2012)
19. Andrei Minakov (RUS) – 47.57 (2020)
20. Jason Lezak (USA) – 47.58 (2008)

Popovici’s improvement curve in the 100 freestyle has been quite remarkable over the past 3 seasons. He cracked 50 seconds for the first time back in July 2019 with a 49.82 to win gold at the European Youth Olympic Festival in Baku, Azerbaijan. Between July 2019 and now he has lowered his time by 2.52 seconds.

David Popovici 100 Freestyle Progression

Popovici won the event at 2021 European Juniors by more than a second, touching ahead of Great Britain’s Edward Mildred who notched a 48.77 for the silver medal. Poland’s Mateusz Chowaniec followed with a 49.37 for bronze and Russia’s Vladislav Reznichenko and Portugal’s Diogo Matos Ribeiro each got under 50 seconds as well with swims of 49.40 and 49.52, respectively.