2024 European Championships: Popovici Making Meet Debut In 100 Free (Day 2 Prelims Preview)

2024 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS

Day 2 Prelims Heat Sheets

Day 2 Prelims Event Lineup

  • Women’s 50 Fly
  • Men’s 100 Free
  • Women’s 100 Breast
  • Men’s 200 Back
  • 4×100 Mixed Medley relay
  • Men’s 800 Free

Five individual events and one relay will be contested on day 2 in Belgrade, Serbia. Making his first appearance of the meet is Romania’s David Popovici as he will take on the 100 freestyle.

Popovici is the former World Record holder in the 100 freestyle as he swam a 46.86 in the event at this meet two years ago. That swim marked his first World Record. He also won the 200 free and set a World Junior record in the process in 2022.

Despite being the former World Record holder, Popovici sits as the #2 seed behind Hungary’s Nandor Nemeth. Another Hungarian to watch in the event is 200 butterfly World Record holder Kristof Milak. Milak swam the 50 fly on day 1 but did not advance due to begin the 3rd fastest Hungarian. Milak finished 2nd behind Popovici in the event two years ago.

As World Record holder Sarah Sjoestrom is not competing here, another Swedish native leads the way in the women’s 50 fly. Sara Junevik is the top seed in a 25.74 and is one of only three swimmers entered under the 26-second mark.

Estonia’s Eneli Jefimova is the top seed in the 100 breast and looks to earn her way to become the first European Championship for the country. Jefimova will look to crack the 1:06 mark soon as she comes in with a 1:06.18, which also stands as the National Record. Poland’s Dominika Sztandera and Switzerland’s Lisa Mamie are the only other entries under the 1:07 mark. Mamie will look to surpass the Olympic Qualifying time of a 1:06.79 as she is just off with a 1:06.87 entry time.

After finishing 4th in the 200 back two years ago, Switzerlands’ Roman Mityukov is the top seed coming into the event this year with a 1:55.34. He notably won silver in the event this past February at the 2024 World Championships in a 1:55.20. The event will be missing 2023 World Champion Hubert Kos as he did not enter the event at all. Mityukov is not the only 2024 Worlds finalist entered in the event as Hungary’s Adam Telegdy is the #2 seed here and finished 7th in the event in Doha.

The mixed medley relay will take place before the men’s 800 free where Ukraine’s Mykhailo Romanchuk is the top seed. Romanchuk won bronze in the event in 2022 at the World Championships in Budapest and broke into tears as he won while his father was fighting in Ukraine at the time. He finished 8th in the event at 2024 Worlds this February. Kuzey Tuncelli of Turkey is the #2 seed and won gold in the event at World Juniors last September.

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Hank
10 days ago

Local meet for Popovici. Probably easier than making the trip to Italy.

MastersSwimmer
10 days ago

It’s a really depleted lineup. No French obviously as clashes with their trials,.. Italians? British? – just a few youngsters…
More big names seem to have opted for the shorter duration Colli as a pre olympic tune up instead of an 8 day Europeans. An opportunity for some youngster and new faces to get on the podium.

Last edited 10 days ago by MastersSwimmer

About Anya Pelshaw

Anya Pelshaw

Anya has been with SwimSwam since June 2021 as both a writer and social media coordinator. She was in attendance at the 2022 and 2023 Women's NCAA Championships writing and doing social media for SwimSwam. Currently, Anya is pursuing her B.A. in Economics and a minor in Government & Law at …

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