Romanian swimmer David Popovici won the gold medal in the 200 m freestyle event on Monday at the European Swimming Championships in Rome.
Popovici (17 years old), the defending world champion of the event, prevailed with a time of 1 min 42 sec 97/100, a new world and European junior record, as well as one of the competition.
Popovici held the former junior records (1 min 43 sec 21/100), achieved on June 20, at the World Swimming Championships in Budapest, where he won gold in the 100 and 200 m freestyle events. The former record of the competition was held by Russian Martin Maliutin (1 min 44 sec 79/100), of May 21, 2021.
In Rome, the silver medal went to Swiss Antonio Djakovic, 1 min 45 sec 60/100, and the bronze was awarded to Austrian Felix Auboeck, 1 min 45 sec 89/100.
David Popovici won the gold medal in the final of the 100 m freestyle race on Saturday, with a new world record (46 sec 86/100).
The Romanian swimmer will also take part in the 400 m freestyle event, scheduled on August 17.
AGERPRES