Teen Popovici smashes 100m freestyle world record at Europeans

At the European Aquatic Championships held in Rome on Saturday (August 13), Romanian teen David Popovici won the 100-meter freestyle event with a time of 46.86 seconds, which was faster than the mark set in the same pool 13 years earlier. Popovici’s record-breaking time broke the previous mark set in the same pool.

The seventeen-year-old athlete was able to shave off 0.5 seconds from the previous record that had been achieved by Cesar Cielo of Brazil at the 2009 global championships, which were also held at the Foro Italico during the time of bodysuits.

Alessandro Miressi of Italy came in third with a time of 47.63, and Kristof Milak of Hungary finished in second place with a time of 47.47.

“I was prepared for this moment to arrive… Glad to have had this enormous record for such a long time,” Cielo remarked on Twitter after Popovici broke his record.

There is a new man who holds the record for the quickest time in the men’s 100-meter freestyle event, and he is only getting started!

Popovici, who won the 100-meter and 200-meter freestyle events at the world championships in June, referred to himself as a “thin legend.” He also stated that the three-time Olympic gold medalist from Britain, Adam Peaty, was an inspiration for him to establish a new standard.

Peaty set a goal for himself to complete the 100-meter breaststroke in less than 57 seconds, and he was able to do so at the 2019 world championships. In the process, he broke his own world record with a time of 56.88 seconds while competing in the semi-finals of the event.

Popovici stated that his goal at this point was to complete the 100-meter freestyle in less than 45 seconds.

According to statements made by Popovici to the BBC, “I wanted to go as quickly as possible and it looks like I did it. What was once a pipe dream may now be a 45.”

“In terms of the ambitions he has established, Adam Peaty is a trailblazer. It may have been science fiction for some people, but not for him.”