Sans Olympian and former world record holder David Popovici, the nation of Romania has revealed its 8-swimmer strong lineup for the 2024 Short Course World Championships.
SwimSwam’s 2024 SC World Championships Roster Index
20-year-old Popovici, who claimed 200m free gold and 100m free bronze at this year’s Olympic Games, will not seek to defend his 200m free silver medal from the last edition of the Short Course World Championships in Melbourne.
Romania will not have any representation in the men’s 200m free but Patrick Dinu is set to contest the men’s 100m free, according to the entries posted on the World Aquatics website.
Romanian Roster for 2024 Short Course World Championships
1. Popescu, Denis
2. Ungur, Andrei
3. Badea, Robert
4. Coman, Darius
5. Proca, Teodor
6. Dinu, Patrick
7. Vass, Brigitta
8. Prisecariu, Aissia
Aside from Popovici, the only other Romanian SC Worlds medalists include Robert Glinta who snagged 100m back bronze at the 2021 edition in Abu Dhabi. Prior to that, the nation’s men’s 4x100m free relay earned bronze back at the 1995 edition.
It’s unfortunate Popovici isn’t racing. It is a very exciting race any time he gets on the blocks. I hope he gets the rest he deserves and continues to contend and win many championships.
Moscow 2002 bronze
Indianapolis 2004 silver both 200 fly
We all make mistakes so a little bit of editing never hurts
Love to see the actual medalist commenting… https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Aquatics_Swimming_Championships_(25m) puts Romania at 6 medals
The remaining medal was won by Larisa Lacusta – 200 breast, 1997 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997_FINA_World_Swimming_Championships_(25_m) Surprised there weren’t more Romanian female medalists, given Olympics/World medalists like Caslaru, Mocanu, Potec etc.
Wiki hadn’t updated the total medals… Potec *did* win a silver in 2008, and Dragos Coman won a bronze in 2008. I think that’s it, so 8 medals, 4 silver and 4 bronze (1995, 1997, 2002, 2 in 2004, 2008, 2021, 2022), Gherghel being the only one to win 2 medals!