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Popovici On Verge Of Rarefied Air In Tokyo After Scintillating 47.5 100 Free

2021 EUROPEAN JUNIOR SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

  • Tuesday, July 6th – Sunday, July 11th
  • Foro Italico, Rome, Italy
  • Heats at 9:30am local (3:30am EST)/Finals at 6pm local (Noon EST)
  • LCM (50m)
  • Start Lists/Results

Budding Romanian star David Popovici was undoubtedly the story of the opening day at the 2021 European Junior Championships in Rome, as the 16-year-old dropped an incredible time of 47.56 in the men’s 100 freestyle.

Popovici’s swim, done on the lead-off leg of the Romanian men’s 4×100 free relay, broke the existing world junior record of 47.57, set by Russian Andrei Minakov last year. When Minakov broke the record, he erased the 47.58 mark set by Australian Kyle Chalmers when he won the 2016 Olympic gold medal at 18 years of age.

Popovici’s swim also lowered his own Romanian Record of 48.08 set at the European Championships in May.

Popovici, who will turn 17 in September, is now firmly in contention for an Olympic medal in the 100 free at the upcoming Olympic Games in Tokyo. Overtaking Minakov, he now ranks fourth in the world this season.

If Popovici managed to win an Olympic medal in the men’s 100 free, he would become the youngest to do so in 89 years, and he’d also be just the 13th aged 18 and under to do it in history.

Chalmers’ win in Rio is the only 18 and under medal in the event over the last nine Olympic Games, with the two prior to that coming from German Jörg Woithe (gold) and Sweden’s Per Johansson (bronze) in 1980.

The youngest-ever medalist in the event was Japan’s Yasuji Miyazaki, who won gold in the event at the age of 15 in 1932.

18&U OLYMPIC MEDALISTS – MEN’S 100 FREESTYLE

  • Alfred Hajos, 1896, 18
  • Harald Julin, 1908, 18
  • Pua Kealoha, 1920, 17
  • Yasuji Miyazaki, 1932, 15
  • Hiroshi Suzuki, 1952, 18
  • Gary Chapman, 1956, 18
  • Don Schollander, 1964, 18
  • Mike Wenden, 1968, 18
  • Mark Spitz, 1968, 18
  • Jörg Woithe, 1980, 17
  • Per Johansson, 1980, 17
  • Kyle Chalmers, 2016, 18

Popovici continues his descent down into the elite of the event, and it’s come fast and furious despite his young age. Having entered May’s European Championships with a best time of 49.09, Popovici brought that down a full second in 48.08 in Budapest, and is now another half-second faster with the Olympics still on the horizon.

Given his continued improvement, it would not be a surprise to see the Romanian go even faster in the individual 100 freestyle at Euro Juniors, which kicks off with prelim heats on Wednesday morning.

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Old Man Chalmers
3 years ago

virtually identical to chalmers splits

popovici 23.07/24.49
chalmers 23.14/24.44

Corn Pop
3 years ago

Time Machine .
In 1987 Romanians had the euro jnr 50 100 200 champ – a 14 year old Livia Coparariu. She travelled to Aust in the summer with others notable Tamara Costiche .I don’t remember if Stella Polit came.

I stood next to both .Tamara was fairly short & muscular with an unfortunate bad case of acne . It could have been steroids or a lso it was before they treated it with antibiotics. She was very friendly .

Livia was extremely tall & willowy , what we classified then as an ectomorph . She did freestyle times that trip that lasted until Cate Campbell 2007 50m & the 100 till Yolanda Kukla ( 2010) . The… Read more »

3 years ago

I remember when Cesar Cielo broke a 50free Brazilian category record in 23.2 with 16 years old…that was 2003 and it was an AMAZING time. This kid opens a 100free in 23.0 and comes home in 24mid…Crazy to think what he will do in Paris.

Samuli Hirsi
Reply to  DDias
3 years ago

2003 was a long time ago, it just feels like not.

Dylan
3 years ago

video or it didnt happen

Jamie5678
Reply to  Dylan
3 years ago
Marklewis
3 years ago

He’s going to fun to watch at the Big Races in Tokyo.

The semifinals of the 100 free is always prime viewing. Sprinters have to be on their ‘A’ game to get a coveted spot in the final.

It would be quite an achievement just to get to the Olympic final for a 16 year old.

Last edited 3 years ago by Marklewis
John
3 years ago

I love it when my little question gets a ton of input from some heat researchers and turned into an article! This kid is going to be fire in 2 weeks!

Fish
3 years ago

Splits for their best performances –

Dressel 22.29 24.67
Chalmers 22.79 24.29
Kolesnikov 22.50 24.87
Miressi 22.70 24.75
Popovici 23.07 24.49

Should be a fascinating race.

CoachJonDavid
Reply to  Fish
3 years ago

If he’s out behind Dressel and Chalmers, I don’t see him fighting through an Olympic A final with those waves. It’ll be slightly different going a 47 when swimmers are right next to you doing it as well. Best of luck to him! We will see!

PVSFree
Reply to  CoachJonDavid
3 years ago

At the same time, he might be able to draft off of the bigger guys around him if he can stay at their hips. If he gets caught in their wake though, I’m not sure he’d be able to come back. He’s much lankier than the guys he’s going to be racing in Tokyo

Jamie5678
Reply to  CoachJonDavid
3 years ago

That’s certainly a possibility, Coach. It’s worth remembering that he set his previous best of 48.08 coming 6th in the European final when there would have been a lot of wash.

The bigger concern for the rest of the field is his rate of improvement. He improved every round at Europeans from 48.3 down to 48 flat. And he presumably has 3 more swims in Rome.

Luigi
3 years ago

I tell you right now that somebody is going to regret Tokyo didn’t happen in 2020, when this kid was just a very promising, rising star.
If he stays on course, he is going to tip some older dude off the Olympic final. At the very least.

Hswimmer
Reply to  Luigi
3 years ago

Honey a lot of people do already lol

Casas 100 back gold in Fukuoka
Reply to  Luigi
3 years ago

The extra year also helped Kolesnikov, Minakov, Miressi etc. Those young swimmers benefit from the delay while many veterans are on the opposite side. And as I said, the 100 free is not a two-swimmer race. There will be more breakouts like this at the Olympics.

Jamie5678
Reply to  Casas 100 back gold in Fukuoka
3 years ago

It’s a really good point – the extra year. The shelf life of a swimmer is short – very few manage 2 ‘normal’ cycles successfully.

In the predictions for events I think there’s a strong tendency towards favouring 2019 results which I don’t think are at all reliable this time round. We will see …

Caleb
Reply to  Jamie5678
3 years ago

If the favorites werent looking sharp this year, I might agree. But they are.

Casas 100 back gold in Fukuoka
Reply to  Caleb
3 years ago

Idk if Kyle is 100% sharp. He’s coming back from a shoulder injury and his time at trials is slightly slower than what he did at 2019 trials.
He now ranks 5th in the world, behind Kolesnikov, miressi and popovici. I don’t think we can say for sure that he will drop more time at the Olympics than all of these three.

Last edited 3 years ago by Casas 100 back gold in Fukuoka
Corn Pop
Reply to  Casas 100 back gold in Fukuoka
3 years ago

There would have been a changing of the guard in 2021. After all Dressel was 2017 .

About James Sutherland

James Sutherland

James swam five years at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, specializing in the 200 free, back and IM. He finished up his collegiate swimming career in 2018, graduating with a bachelor's degree in economics. In 2019 he completed his graduate degree in sports journalism. Prior to going to Laurentian, James swam …

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