The FINA World Swimming Championships also known Short Course Worlds came to an end on Sunday, in Melbourne, Australia. Romania was represented by three athletes: David Popovici, in the freestyle speed competitions, in which he holds several world titles, Robert Glința, a former European champion in the 100 meter backstroke event, and Andrei Anghel, one of the most promising swimmers of the young generation. Popovici had the best performance, winning the silver medal in the 200 meter freestyle, which is why Radio Romania International designated him the Athlete of the Week.
In Melbourne, David Popovici's stated goal was to qualify for a final. In the 400 meter freestyle competition, he did not pass the heats. He made up for it in the 100m freestyle, where he qualified for the final, in which he finished 4th, setting a new junior world record. In the 200 meter freestyle he did even better. He finished second behind Korea's Sunwoo Hwang, who had an excellent day and set a new competition record.
David Popovici was born in Bucharest, on September 15, 2004. He stood out in the junior competitions last year, when, at the European Championships in Rome, he won the 200m, 100m and 50m freestyle competitions, in the last one also setting a world junior record. He later broke world junior records in both the 100m and 200m freestyle events. He qualified for the Tokyo Olympics, where he ranked fourth in the 200m freestyle event at a difference of two hundredths of a second from the 3rd placed swimmer. In the senior competitions, he won his first major title in November 2021 when, in Kazan, Russia, he became the European champion in the 200m freestyle event. In June, at the World Swimming Championships in Budapest, he won the 100m and 200m freestyle competitions. At the European Championships in Rome, he broke the world record in the 100m freestyle event, and in the 200 meters he recorded the best time in a textile swimsuit in the history of the event. (LS)