Swimming: At 17, the Romanian Popovici broke a record that seemed unbeatable

The young Romanian swimmer David Popovich, only 17 years oldestablished at new world record for 100 freeafter winning this Saturday in the final of the European Championships in Rome with a time of 46.86 seconds.

Popovici, the big favorite, lowered the previous record -46.91- by five cents, who was in power of Brazilian Cesar Cielo since 2009.

It is the confirmation of Popovici as the new great swimming star, after winning the titles in the 100 and 200 meters freestyle at the recent World Championships in Budapest.

César Cielo’s record has been standing for thirteen years, from the controversial era of what were then called ‘new swimwear’, which led to a shower of records, until the approval of a new regulation.

The Romanian swimmer, who already had eight cents of the Sky record in the semifinals on Friday, achieved with polyurethane swimwear now bannedhe did not fail this Saturday in his next attempt.

Driven by the frantic staging of Frenchman Maxime Grousset, Popovici managed to swim the first 50 meters of the race 19 cents faster than the semi-finals, setting a time of 22.74 seconds.

A record that opened up the possibility for Popovici to set a new world record and the Romanian did not fail after completing the last length in 24.12 reaching a stratospheric 46.86.

The new world record allowed Popovici to hang the gold medal with an advantage of 61 cents over the Hungarian Kristof Milaksilver with a time of 47.47, and 77 over the Italian Alessandro Miressi who climbed to the third step of the podium with a score of 47.63.

Thus, the Romanian joined a select group with only three other men who managed to lose 47 seconds in the 100 meters: Cielo, Frenchman Alain Bernard and American Caeleb Dressel.

Furthermore, his world record was set in the same location where Cielo had obtained the previous record: the swimming pool of the Foro Italico. On July 30, 2009, the Brazilian broke the 47-second barrier by winning the gold medal at the World Cup in Rome.

At the time, it was rumored that suits made entirely of polyurethane would be banned from 2010, after the controversy over the large number of world records beaten with that clothing in Rome.

With information from EFE and AFP