Popovici’s Sprint With The Stars Takes Place On January 17th

2026 SPRINT WITH THE STARS

• Saturday, January 17th
• Otopeni Swimming Complex, Romania
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Central
• Start Lists/Results
• Livestream

As we reported last Fall, Olympic champion David Popovici revealed that the annual ‘Swim with the Stars’ meet is headed to his native Romania for the first time ever.

The thrilling racing opportunity is slated for the Otopeni Swimming Complex tomorrow, Saturday, January 17, 2026.

Sprint with the Stars, typically held in Great Britain, offers age-group swimmers the chance to race against some of the world’s best swimmers. At the event, the nine fastest racers in each age group progress from heats to the Showcase Finals. Those finals feature one of the ‘Stars’ who will be chased down following an age-related head start.

Past editions of the meet have showcased stars to the tune of Adam Peaty, James Guy, Katie Shanahan, Caspar Corbeau and Marrit Steenbergen.

This time around, the ‘stars’ include Lauren Cox, Apostolos Christou, Angelina Köhler, Diogo Ribeiro, Peaty, Popovici, and Veera Kivirinta.

Although with a different twist on the actual finals format, Sprint with the Stars is akin to Peaty’s AP Race London competition. The latter meet focuses on attracting international talent but also hosts a series of junior finals to give the age group set a chance to race in the same pool as their elite counterparts.