Popovici Clocks 21.83 Personal Best, Romanian Record In 50 Free

2025 ROMANIAN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Wednesday, April 9th – Sunday, April 13th
• Otopeni, Romania
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Central
• SwimSwam Preview
• Results
• Livestream

The 2025 Romanian National Championships kicked off today from Otopeni and 20-year-old Olympic champion David Popovici dove in for his first event.

Popovici took on the men’s 50m freestyle, firing off a new lifetime best of 21.83 to grab the gold in the sole sub-22-second time of the field.

Entering this competition, Popovici held a personal best of 22.16 in the splash n’ dash, a time he put up to become the 2022 European Junior champion in the event.

During this morning’s prelims, the ace lowered that down to 22.14 before entering entirely new territory with the first 21-point time of his young career.

Popovici took down the former Romanian national record with tonight’s effort, with that previous mark resting at the 21.98 Norbert Trandafir put on the books over a decade ago at the 2013 World Championships.

Popovici’s 21.83 dipped under the World Aquatics ‘A’ standard of 22.05 needed to add this event to his potential lineup for this summer’s World Championships in Singapore.

He is also entered in the 100m free, 200m free and 100m fly at this competition.

Earlier this year, Popovici told the press,“Even after becoming an Olympic champion, my goals haven’t changed.

“I just want to swim comfortably and as fast as I can, exceeding my limits.”