Popovici sweeps the final of the 200m freestyle and takes his second gold in the European swimming

David Popovici is once again dyed gold at the European Swimming Championships in Rome.

After his exhibition in the final of the 100m freestyle, in which he took the victory and also set a new world record, the 17-year-old Romanian swimmer has once again swept the 200m final held this Monday.

The very young new king of swimming has stopped the clock in 1 minute and 42.97 seconds, a new junior world record, just one hundredth of the second best mark of all time, which belongs to the American Michael Phelps.

Popovici hangs the gold in the 100m and 200m, just as he did in the World Cup that was held just over a month in Budapest, achieving a double that only the American Jim Montgomery had achieved before in 1973.

Despite his triumph, Popovici has not enthusiastically celebrated his latest victory.

The reason is that the Romanian had Paul Biedermann between his eyebrows and his record of 1 minute and 42 seconds, which he has not been able to reach despite his great performance.

The German record holder achieved the best record in history in the 200m in 2009 in Rome, precisely in the pool where this Monday Popovici tried to beat him, who fell less than a second behind.

David Popovici does it AGAIN‼️ #swimming

What a race from David Popovici 🇷🇴!

He breaks the World Junior Record and another Championship Record in the Men's 200m Freestyle in 1:42.97 pic.twitter.com/5KNiunDs87

– FINA (@fina1908) August 15, 2022

From the first strokes, Popovici already took the lead in the race and the rivals struggled to try to follow in the wake of the Romanian torpedo.

The Romanian began to pull harder and widen the gap with his pursuers from the second 100m, in which he swam at a record pace.

In the end he did not manage to catch up with the German record holder, but finished almost three seconds behind his closest pursuer, the Swiss Djakovic (1m 45.60s), which shows that he has no rival in the pools right now.

In addition, the Romanian improved his personal best by almost three tenths, set at the World Championships in Budapest on June 20 with 1m 43.21s, the former best world record in the junior category.

Popovici continues to defy the limits of time and logic.

After winning the European title on Saturday in the queen distance of swimming, the 100 meters, beating the world record held by the Brazilian César Cielo, in combined, in 46.86, the Romanian will seek a historic triplet with his last final, in the 400 meters freestyle, which he disputes this Wednesday.

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