David Popovici won his first gold medal at the European Junior Championship in Otopeni, on Tuesday, in the men’s 4×100 m relay. Romania, in the formula David Popovici, Vlad Stancu, Stefan Cozma and Patrick Sebastian Dinu, climbed the first step of the podium, imposing himself in the final with a time of 3min 18sec 93/100.
David Popovici then won on Wednesday his second gold medal at the European Junior Swimming Championships U-23 in Otopeni, after dominating the 200-meter freestyle event, timed at 1 min 45 sec 45/100
The two-time senior world champion, who had qualified for the final with a second time, thus defended the title in the 200 m freestyle won last year at the Junior Europeans in Rome. Popovici also holds the record of the 200 m freestyle in juniors, 1 min 43 sec 21/100, set on June 20, 2022 at the World Senior Championships in Budapest.
17-year-old Vlad Stefan Stancu has brought the fifth medal to the Romanian delegation at the 2022 European Junior Swimming & Diving Championship in Otopeni, winning the gold in the men’s 1,500m freestyle.
Although he entered the final with the fifth time, Stancu managed an extraordinary race which he finished in 15 minutes 05 sec 47/100. The second place was occupied by Poland’s Krzysztof Chmielewski (15 min 13 sec 46/100), while the bronze medal went to Turkey’s Emir Batur Albayrak (15 min 15 sec 24/100).
This is the second medal obtained on Thursday by Romania, after Bianca Costea’s silver in the women’s 50m freestyle event.
Team Romania has so far five medals at the European Junior Swimming & Diving Championships: three golds – David Popovici, Vlad Stancu, Stefan Cozma and Patrick Sebastian Dinu in the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay event, David Popovici in the men’s 200m freestyle, and Vlad Stancu in the men’s 1,500 freestyle, and two silvers – David Popovici, Patrick Sebastian Dinu, Bianca Costea and Rebecca Aimee Diaconescu in the 4x100m freestyle mixed relay, and Bianca Costea in the women’s 50m freestyle.
The 2022 European Junior Swimming & Diving Championships are taking place July 5 – 10 at the new Otopeni Olympic Swimming Complex with no less than 494 swimmers from 42 countries attending.
Robert Glinta and David Popovici in semifinals of World Swimming Championships Budapest
