Popovici Logs Season-Best 1:46.19 200 Free At 2024 Euro Meet

2024 LUXEMBOURG EURO MEET

• Friday, January 26th – Sunday, January 28th
• Centre National Sportif et Culturel d’Coque, Luxembourg
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Central
• SwimSwam Preview #1/SwimSwam Preview #2
• Paris 2024 Olympic Games Qualifying Event
• Day 1 Recap
• Entries/Results
• Livestream

The 2024 Luxembourg Euro Meet saw its second day of action unfold with the likes of Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden, David Popovici of Romania, and Diogo Ribeiro of Portugal in the water.

We reported how 30-year-old Olympic champion Sjostrom fired off a head-turning time of 23.87 to top the women’s 50m freestyle field. That outing overtook her previous season-best of 23.95 logged at the Berlin stop of the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup and came within .26 of her own WR of 23.61 established last year in Fukuoka.

• Sjostrom Scorches 23.87 50 Free at LUX Euro Meet

As for Popovici, the 19-year-old World Record holder took on the men’s 200m freestyle, where he found success in the form of 1:46.19 for gold.

The ‘Romanian Rail’ opened in 52.08 and closed in 54.11 to get the job done in the only time of the field under 1:47. Popovici’s result renders him just outside the list of the top 10 performers on the season and marks his first splash in this event for 2024.

Snagging silver was 30-year-old veteran Velimir Stjepanovik of Serbia. Stjepanovik registered a time of 1:47.84 while Frenchman Hadrien Salvan rounded out the podium in 1:48.82.

Of note, Popovici also raced in the B-Final of the 50m free, clocking 22.69.

Italy’s Simone Cerasuolo struck gold in the men’s 50m breast, hitting 27.14 as the top finisher. That got him to the wall comfortably ahead of teammates Federico Poggio and Alessandro Pinzuti who settled for silver and bronze, respectively.

Poggio turned in a time of 27.61 and Pinzuti was also sub-28 in a mark of 27.92.

Cerasuolo’s effort this evening fell just .07 shy of the 27.07 put up for 9th place at last year’s World Championships. His personal best remains at the 26.76 established at the 2023 Sette Colli Trophy.

A trio of women were under the 31-second threshold in their edition of the 50m breast.

Leading the pack was Italy’s Arianna Castiglioni who got to the wall first in 30.71, her quickest time of the season.

Canadian Shona Branton produced 30.75 as the silver medalist and Martina Carraro, also of Italy, bagged bronze in 30.92.

Branton’s outing here checks her in as Canada’s 5th-fastest performer in history in this women’s 50m breast event.

Additional Winners

• Germany’s Maya Werner doubled up on her 800m free victory from night one with gold in the 200m free. Werner touched in 2:00.11 for a new personal best by over half a second.
• Tessa Giele topped the women’s 50m back podium in a mark of 28.01 while Frenchman Yohann Ndoye-Brouard followed up his 100m back gold from last night with 50m back gold in 25.00.
• Cal commit Lilou Ressencourt was too quick to catch in a tight women’s 100m fly race. Ressencourt captured the gold in 58.48, just .11 ahead of Sweden’s Sara Junevik who earned silver in 58.59. Italy’s Elena Di Liddo also landed on the podium in 58.98 for bronze. Ressencourt’s outing this evening now represents a new personal best, overtaking her previous PB of 58.90 from last year.
• Ribeiro got to the wall first in the men’s 50m free, hitting 22.03 as the top finisher. That ties the 4th-fastest outing of his young career.
• Danish swimmer Clara Rybak-Andersen produced a gold medal-worthy time of 2:26.38 in the women’s 200m breast. It was Germany’s 2015 world champion Marco Koch who got it done for the men in 2:15.04
• In the distance races, Portugal’s Diana Duraes grabbed women’s 1500m free gold in 16:35.65 and Great Britain’s Luke McGee topped the podium in 8:17.52 in the men’s 800m free.