David Popovici Headlines Talented Field Competing At Marek Petrusewicz Memorial Meet

2023 Marek Petrusewicz Memorial Meet

• October 27-28, 2023
• Wroclaw, Poland
• SCM (25 meters)
• Meet Central
• Full Meet Info + Schedule

Several stars will be in action later this month at the 2023 Marek Petrusewicz Memorial Meet in Wroclaw, Poland, with 2022 world champion David Popovici highlighting the confirmed entrants.

Popovici will be joined by the likes of Chad Le Clos, Arno Kamminga, Dylan Carter and Marco Koch on the men’s side, while World Championship medalist Tes Schouten headlines the women’s field.

Popovici, who is coming off a relatively disappointing 2023 World Championship campaign where he failed to reach the podium (after winning double gold in 2022) will sit out of the 2024 Worlds early next year in Doha, and instead will be putting his focus on the 2023 European Short Course Championships in December.

The Marek Petrusewicz meet will then serve as a good tune-up for SC Euros, as it will be raced in short course meters at the Orbita Pool October 27-28, just over a month before Euros on December 5-10 in Glasgow.

The competition will be the next big showcase on the international calendar following the conclusion of the World Cup circuit, which got underway over the weekend in Berlin and will resume on Friday in Athens. Le Clos, Kamminga, Carter and Schouten are all currently racing in the series, and Kamminga, Schouten and Koch can all be expected to be competing alongside Popovici at SC Euros.

The event is slated to feature some exciting non-traditional races, including 25 free and 25 medley skins—for the medley, the stroke will be drawn before the swimmers take to the blocks. (In the 25 free skins, swimmers can opt to do the entire thing underwater as well.)

• Full Meet Info + Schedule

Marek Petrusewicz represented Poland at the 1952 Olympics in the men’s 200 breaststroke, and won silver in the event two years later at the European Championships in Turin. He also lowered the world record in the 100 breast twice between 1953 and 1954.

Diagnosed with Buerger’s Disease, Petrusewicz ended up having both of his legs amputated, one in 1967 and the other in 1983. He continued to compete as a disabled athlete in the 1960s and was active in both sport and politics in Poland until his second amputation resulted in a stroke in 1986. He died in 1992 at the age of 58.