David Popovici Fires Off 47.30 100 Free Prelim In Otopeni; Misses Final With Back Pain
David Popovici posted a 47.30 scorcher in the 100 free prelims before withdrawing from the final because of back pain on the penultimate day of the Romanian Championships in Otopeni.
The 2022 world and European champion split 22.96/24.34 for the joint-ninth fastest performance of his career as he matched the time that secured gold at the 2021 European Junior Championships, then a WJR. A year later he became the world record-holder in the same Foro Italico pool in Rome in 46.86 with Pan Zhanle lowering that to 46.80 at the 2024 worlds in Doha before his eye-watering 46.40 at Paris 2024.
It fires the Olympic 200 free champion to second in the rankings behind Rio 2016 gold medallist Kyle Chalmers and his 47.27 from Bergen a couple of weeks ago.
Popovici set a Romanian record of 21.83 in the 50 free and posted 1:45.07 over 200m before his prelims scorcher.
He was also slated to enter the 100 fly on Sunday in which he holds the national record of 52.30 but it appears he now won’t line up in that.
He posted to social media, saying: “Should have competed in the 100m freestyle final today, one of my favourites.. however, unfortunately, the back pain did not allow me to go into the pool. It was a hard decision but necessary. Sometimes, the bravest thing you can do as an athlete is know when to say “stop” to take care of your body and your path long-term. Even though it was hard for me to watch the race from the sidelines, my heart was full because of you. I didn’t want to disappoint the kids who came to see me, so I spent some time with them. Thank you all for your support and understanding – I will come back stronger!”
The final went ahead without Popovici with Patrick Dinu going 48.70 for victory to go second all-time performer in Romania. Alex. Richard Szilagyi was second in 49.85 with Mihai Gergely third in 50.52.
Rebecca Diaconescu: Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
Rebecca Diaconescu added the women’s 100 title to her 200 and 400 free crowns as the only woman inside 56secs in 55.97. Irina Ana Preda came back on the second 50 to touch 0.07 behind in 56.04 with Ioana Maria Stirbu third in 56.75.
Daria Mariuca Silisteanu set a Romanian record in the first final of the day with 28.28 in the 50 back. With that time she cut 0.18 from the standard of 28.46 she set en-route to bronze at the 2023 European juniors and secured the 50/100 double. She was well clear of Aissia Claudia Prisecariu who clocked 29.42 in second with Theodora Maria Dumitru third in 30.04.
Denis Laurean Popescu also clinched the 50/100 double when he stopped the clock at 25.44 with Andrei Ungur (25.74) and Andrei Mircea Anghel (25.94) following him to the rostrum.
Daria Asaftei completed a clean sweep of the breaststroke events with a dominant 100 win in 1:09.32, just 0.07 shy of Henrietta Fangli’s national record of 1:09.25 from 2023 before she switched sporting nationality to Hungary. It’s been a fine meet for Asaftei who set a Romanian mark of 31.67 in the 50 and won the 200 in 2:30.01. Brigitta Vass came from 0.26 down at the final turn to go past Tamara Lospa and take second in 2:11.48 to 2:11.61 as the trio replicated the outcome of the one-length event.
Darius Coman overcame a 0.46 deficit at halfway to win the men’s 100m breaststroke in 1:01.43 and clinch the 100/200 double. Daniel Alexandru Nicusan was second in 1:01.61 as he claimed his third breaststroke medal in Otopeni following 50 gold and 200 silver with Danis Volontir third in 1:02.15.
Robert Badea clinched the IM double with victory by more than 10secs over 400. The European junior champion stopped the clock at 4:17.50 ahead of Vlad Stancu (4:27.60) and Nimrod Kalman Koncz (4:36.22). Badea won the 200IM earlier in the meet in a Romanian record of 1:59.95.
Rebeca Jasmine Veress was the only woman inside 5mins as she claimed the long medley title in 4:57.63 ahead of Ana Maria Sibiseanu (5:00.73) and Tamara Lospa (5:06.06).
