At the 2024 European Championships, David Popovici of Romania took home the gold in the Men’s 200 Freestyle with a time of 1:43.13. This marked his fifth-fastest 200 freestyle performance of all-time, as he successfully defended his European title.
Popovici began the race strong, leading World Record pace at the 100 mark with a time of 50.08. However, his split comparison with Paul Biedermann, the World Record holder, showed that while he had a fast start, he fell off the pace towards the end of the race. Despite missing out on breaking the World Record, Popovici’s time was still a remarkable achievement and ranked as the fifth-fastest performance in history.
In an interview after the race, Popovici mentioned that he was not tapered for this meet and had earlier swam a 46.88 in the 100 freestyle, which ranked as number three in history. His impressive performance at this event allowed him to move up in the world rankings for the season. Prior to this meet, Popovici’s season best was 1:44.74 but managed to break under 1:44 barrier at this event making him standout among other competitors Lukas Martens of Germany who previously held top time of season with 1:44.14 from April.
