World Record Holder David Popovici Headlines World Juniors Entry Lists

2022 FINA World Junior Swimming Championships

• August 30-September 4, 2022
• Lima, Peru
• Long Course Meters (50 meters), Prelims/Semis/Finals
• Meet Site
• Live Results

While many of the world’s top swimming nations will be absent, there will still be plenty of talent, and opportunities for new countries to shine, at the 2022 World Junior Swimming Championships.

Among the countries that are not sending swimmers to Lima, Peru this year include the United States, Australia, China, Great Britain, Canada, Ukraine, Germany, the Netherlands, and Lithuania. Also absent is Russia, the original hosts of the meet who had that duty and their right to participate stripped after their invasion of Ukraine earlier this year. Belarus, a country that is assisting Russia in its war in Ukraine, has also been barred from competition.

Those countries combined to occupy four of the top five spots on the medals table at the last edition of the World Junior Championships. Absent nations also combined for 95 out of 126 total medals won in 2019, including 33 out of 42 gold medals.

Many of these countries skipped because of the already-crowded summer. Others, including the US, chose different meets when there was uncertainty about the future host of this event in the spring amid the ongoing war in Ukraine.

In any other year, the story of these championships would be about the countries missing. While that is a story we cannot ignore, in 2022, there’s an even bigger headline: the presence of World Record holder David Popovici from Romania.

The World Junior Championships will be Popovici’s fourth major championship of the summer, but so far he has shown no signs of slowing down. Last week in Rome, Italy at the European Championships, he broke the World Record in the 100 free (46.86) and the World Junior Record in the 200 free (1:42.97).

He skipped his last swim of that meet, the final of the 400 free, to begin preparations for these World Junior Championships, indicating that he intends to be ready to swim fast again in Lima. He is only entered in two races, his specialty events, the 100 and 200 free.

He is not the only top seed from Romania at the meet: his countrymate Bianca-Andreea Costea is the top seed in the girls’ 50 free with a time of 25.34. Costea first swam that time three years ago at the European Junior Championships when she was just 14. Now 17, she repeated the time earlier this year.

Romania has also entered a men’s 400 free relay, men’s 400 medley relay, and mixed 400 free relay, so Popovici might sneak in some extra swims that way.

Among other names to watch are young Hungarian sprinter Nikolett Padar, the top seed in the girls’ 100 and 200 freestyle. She already has six European Junior titles, including wins in the 100 and 200 freestyle individually earlier this year.

Also a bronze medalist at Euro Juniors in the 400 free, she won’t swim that race in Lima. Instead it will be left to distance ace and Turkish Record holder Merve Tuncel. Tuncel is entered in the 200, 400, 800, and 1500 freestyles in a busy schedule. She holds the Turkish Record in the longest three of those distances, and the European Junior Record in the 800 (8:21.91) and 1500 (15:55.23).

Turkey has 4 all-time medals at the World Junior Championships and Romania has 5. Both countries could easily match those totals this week alone.

Other big names include Poland’s Ksawery Masiuk, who won a bronze medal in the 50 backstroke at the 2022 World Aquatics Championships, and Mio Narita from Japan, who swam 4:36.79 in the 400 IM on Thursday night to break the Junior Pan Pac Championships record.

• Click here to download an Excel sheet with events by swimmer.

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