2025 LEN U23 European Championships
- Thursday, June 26 – Saturday, June 28
- X-bionic® sphere Pool, Šamorín, Slovakia
- LCM (50m)
- Start Times – Local: Prelims – 9:30 am / Finals – 6:00 pm
- Start Times – EST: Prelims – 2:30 am / Finals – 11:00 am
- Meet Central
- Psych Sheets
- Live Results
- Livestream (Pay-To-Watch)
- Recaps: Day 1 Prelims
Day 1 Finals Live Recap
MEN’S 200 FREESTYLE – FINAL
- World Record: 1:42.00, Paul Biedermann (GER) – 2009
- European Record: 1:42.00, Paul Biedermann (GER) – 2009
- David Popovici (ROU), 1:43.64
- Petar Mitsin (BUL), 1:46.48
- Charlie Hutchison (GBR), 1:46.84
- Jarno Baschnitt (GER), 1:46.91
- Evan Bailey (IRL), 1:47.45
- Timo Sorgius (GER), 1:47.93
- Antonio Djakovic (SUI), 1:48.34
- Niko Jankovic (CRO), 1:49.00
Romania’s David Popovici swam to a world leading 1:43.64 200 freestyle en route to a win on night one of the U23 European Championships in Slovakia. Popovici is now one of three men who have been sub-1:44 this year. Despite not racing since Paris, Popovici wasted no time entering back to the top of the World stage.
2024-2025 LCM Men 200 Free
POPOVICI
1:43.64
| 2 | Luke HOBSON | USA | 1:43.73 | 06/04 |
| 3 | Lukas Märtens | GER | 1:44.25 | 05/03 |
| 4 | Gabriel JETT | USA | 1:44.70 | 06/04 |
| 5 | Edward Sommerville | AUS | 1:44.93 | 06/10 |
Popovici won the European Title last summer, swimming a 1:43.13 in the final, although that meet also included semifinals. A month later, he swam to a win in the event at the Paris Olympics touching in a 1:44.72. There is around the same gap between the U23 Championships and the 2025 World Championships that begin next month in Singapore. With his win in Paris, he became the first Romanian man to win gold at the Olympics.
Popovici has been as fast as 1:42.97 as he swam that back at the 2022 European Championships, a time that stands as the World Junior Record.
In addition to Popovici, Bulgaria’s Petar Mitsin broke his own National Record swimming a 1:46.48. That snuck under his previous record of a 1:46.50 that he swam at the 2023 European Junior Championships in Serbia. Mitsin did not swim the event in Paris last summer.
If the WR was still 1:42.96, we’d be on WR alert every time Popovici has a tapered swim 🥶
Anyone found a full video yet? Even with the Aussies looking a bit weaker this year Worlds is gonna be 🔥
By splitting 24.07,26.33,26.69,26.55 in 4 laps, he seems to be good at orchestrating tempos way more smoothly than his rivals, like Hobson who was swimming 24.05,26.00,26.29,27.39 in the U.S Trials. How to cruise in the latter half of the event still is a formidable task.
He did swim since Paris… he swam a 1:45 at Nationals…
Hoping for a PB (or at least a 46) in 100m free (and maybe even in 50 free), that 47,30 in heats at Nationals was a promising sign.
Please martens lock in and make it a 1:43 podium
Anyone think he has a chance to break Biedermans world record?
He has a chance yes, he needs to be pushed imo but this is the season where that might just happen with Hobson and Mertens etc. in this sort of shape
I don’t think this genie is going back in the bottle. Thorpe went 44.0 in 2001, Phelps the first 43 in 2007. We could tell a version of history where the next part of that story is Popovici with the first 42. Now finally, getting close to 2 decades (holy s*** where did the time go Phelps was my childhood sorry) from the first 43, we’re seeing multiple swimmers go 43 at the same time.
I don’t think it’ll be this year, but I don’t think this is the last year Popovici will have people like Hobson pushing him at all.
Nope
To break the world record, one needs to split a 48 mid at the 50, which is most countries’ 100m National record
REAL
49.5 and 52.5 will get the job done
That’s ridiculous. David was 50.3/52.6 in his PB. If he can keep his back half but improve down to 49.4, that will do it.
Considering he’s a 46.8 100 swimmer and maybe better I think it’s doable.
Everyone else thought 1:47 was ridiculous at the halfway point of an 400 until it happened this year so…
I have a feeling worlds is going to be a bit like one of these recent MCAA meets where its just way faster than ever across the board and we’re all like woah