Romanian swimmer David Popovici, who broke a world record at age 17, has just garnered the gold medal for 100 freestyle in Singapore, making it the second-fastest time in history.
He said that his trick was to imagine that he was swimming alone.
“I improved my underwater the most from last year and what I did differently in the 200 and the 100 especially was the length of the stroke. These are boring, nerdy facts for swimmers, but for me it works,” Popovici said. “Tonight was a 10 out of 10. I’m not one to say that. You never have a 10, but I think today was a 10 out of 10. I’ll enjoy that and I’ll celebrate the party.”
Popovici’s final time and personal best was 46.51, breaking his European record of 46.71 set last month by two tenths and finishing 0.11 of the world record of 46.40 set by Chinese swimmer Pan Zhanle in the 2024 Olympics.
David Popovici is 20 years old.
He said he had considering sitting Singapore out.
