David Popovici Fires Off 21.83 Romanian 50 Free Record At National Championships; Robert Badea Lowers 200IM Mark
David Popovici lowered the Romanian 50 free record to 21.83 on day one of the 2025 national championships in Otopeni.
The Olympic 200 free champion entered the meet with a 22.16 PB en-route to gold at the 2022 European Junior Championships. He lowered that to 22.14 in prelims before taking down Norbert Trafandir’s previous standard of 21.98 that had stood since the 2013 worlds in Barcelona.
David Popovici: Photo Courtesy: Deepbluemedia
It was within the qualification standard of 22.05 for the World Championships in Singapore, three years after winning double gold in Budapest.
Popovici posted the only sub-22 time of the field with Patrick Dinu second in 22.40 and Daniel Alexandru Nicusan third in 22.99.
Irina Ana Preda won the women’s equivalent in 26.06.
Robert Badea was also on record-breaking form in the 200IM as he became the first Romanian inside 2mins. The 17-year-old set the previous record of 2:00.05 en-route to gold at last year’s European Juniors in Vilnius, Lithuania, where he won the medley double. On Wednesday, he went 1:59.95 and now owns the three-fastest times in Romanian history.
Matei-Cristian State was second in 2:02.39 with Mihai Gergely third home in 2:04.36.
European junior champion Daria Mariuca Silisteanu won the women’s 100 back in 1:00.89 ahead of Aissia Claudia Prisecariu second in 1:01.60.
Denis Popescu posted 54.72 to claim the men’s title with Alexandru Constantinescu (55.17) and Tudor Andrei Iordache (55.73) claiming the runners-up spots.
Andrei Theodor Proca won the men’s 800 free in 8:01.53 with Diana Gabriela Stiger the only woman inside 9mins en-route to the title in 8:49.79.
A Clubul Sportiv al Armatei Steaua Bucuresti quartet of Vlad Stefan Stancu, Badea, Rebecca Aimee Diaconescu and Maysa Ratiu headed the mixed 4×1 free relay in 3:36.43.
