Romania Riding The Popovici Wave Into This Month’s World Championships

2025 European Junior Championships

• Tuesday, July 1 – Sunday, July
• X-bionic® sphere Pool, Šamorín, Slovakia
• LCM (50m)
• Start Times – Local: Prelims – 9:30 am / Finals – 6:00 pm
• Start Times – EST: Prelims – 3:30 am / Finals – 12:00 pm
• SwimSwam Preview
• Meet Central
• Entries (by event)
• Entries (by country)
• Live European Aquatics Results
• Livestream (Pay-To-Watch)
• Recaps:
  • Prelims: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6
  • Finals: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6

The 2025 European Junior Championships wrapped up last night in Slovakia with the nation of Great Britain topping the overall medal table.

Italy, Spain, Lithuania and Turkey comprised the rest of the top 5 performing nations, but not far off was Romania who placed 8th. Romania racked up a total of 7 medals, including 4 golds, 2 silver and 1 bronze.

Among its medalists were Robert Badea who won the boys’ 400m IM and captured silver in the 200m IM, Daria Silișteanu who logged a victory in the girls’ 100m back as well as a bronze in the 50m back and Aissia Prisecariu who earned 200m backstroke bronze.

Although Romania fell out of the 4th place medal table position it enjoyed last year, the nation still saw some impressive and record-breaking performances that will keep folks talking about the young talent bubbling beneath the surface.

The emerging talent’s dedication and perseverance can perhaps be attributed to the fact that one of the most prolific swimmers in the world right now, David Popovici, is from Romania.

20-year-old Popovici is a former world record holder in the men’s 100m freestyle and won 200m free gold and 100m free bronze at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

As former Romanian powerhouses to the tune of Robert Glinta have retired, the nation’s budding stars are riding the Popovici wave into the record books and trying to elevate the nation into the conversation among those that traditionally haven’t made a big dent in the medal table at major international competitions.

At this past week’s European Junior Championships, for instance, two national records bit the dust, one on the men’s side and one on the women’s.

Darius Coman notched a new Romanian standard of 2:11.94 in the boys’ 200m breaststroke while Silisteanu logged a new record of 28.26 in the girls’ 50m backstroke.

Those performances combined with Popovici’s 21.83 national record in the 50m free at April’s Romanian Championships and the 46.71 European Record he nabbed at the U23 Championships in June render the nation poised to continue riding the wave into this month’s World Championships and beyond.