David Popovici: A Landmark Performance at the European U23 Championships

On June 28, 2025, at the European U23 Championships in Šamorín, Slovakia, 20-year-old David Popovici set a new European record in the 100m freestyle, stopping the clock at an astonishing 46.71 seconds.

For more information about David Popovici, see David Popovici impresses again in the 200m freestyle heats – another moment of glory for Romanian swimming, which offers complementary details on the subject.

This time represents:

• The world’s best time of 2025 in the event.
• The second-fastest time in history, surpassed only by the 46.40 world record set by China’s Pan Zhanle at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

What is more, Popovici became the first man in history to swim the final 50 metres of the 100m freestyle in under 24 seconds (23.98), a groundbreaking achievement in swimming.

Medals and other U23 results

At the same European Championships:

• He won gold in the 200m freestyle in 1:43.64, confirming his dominance over the middle distance.
• He took bronze in the 50m freestyle, completing a remarkable tally of three international medals at a single competition.

Career progression: from junior swimmer to Olympic champion

David Popovici first came to prominence in 2022, when he won two world titles at the World Aquatics Championships: gold in the 100m and 200m freestyle. He became the first swimmer since 1973 to achieve that double at a single senior championship.

At the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, he became:

• Olympic champion in the 200m freestyle, winning gold in 1:44.72, just two hundredths of a second clear of bronze in an extremely close victory.
• Bronze medallist in the 100m freestyle, finishing in 47.49, slightly slower than Kyle Chalmers (47.48) and Pan Zhanle (46.40).

These results cemented his status as Romania’s first male Olympic swimming champion since 2004. In recognition of his impressive career, David was named Romania’s Athlete of the Year for 2024, while his coach, Adrian Rădulescu, received the Coach of the Year award.

How the record casts his entire career in a new light

Building on progress

Popovici continues to break barriers that once seemed unimaginable—the 46.71 European record brings him closer to the 46.40 world record and confirms that his 2022 performances were not an exception, but the foundation of an upward trajectory.

Mindset and inner balance

Popovici has explained that his success is rooted in his emotional and physical wellbeing, saying:

“A happy swimmer is a fast swimmer.”

Americans have also called him “FLASH”, illustrating the power and supersonic speed that have propelled him to the top of international rankings.

International landscape and global impact

Outlook for the 2025 World Championships in Singapore

David Popovici is regarded as the leading rival to current world-record holder Pan Zhanle in the 100m freestyle at the World Championships in Singapore, scheduled for July 2025. Experts and the media, including SwimSwam and Swimming World, believe he has a genuine chance of reclaiming the world record.

International reaction

• Swimming World Magazine has praised him as one of swimming’s most promising figures and identified him as a possible contender to reclaim the world record.
• SwimSwam highlighted that Popovici is the first man in history to cover the final 50m of the event in under 24 seconds.

Complete profile: who is David Popovici?

• Date of birth: September 15, 2004, Bucharest
• Club: CS Dinamo Bucharest
• Coach: Adrian Rădulescu
• Stroke: freestyle; his complementary specialisations are the 200m and 100m freestyle.
• He began swimming at the age of four to correct early-stage scoliosis; at 10, he broke his first national junior record in the 50m backstroke.
• In 2022, he was named Male Swimmer of the Year by SwimSwam and Swimming World Magazine, and Athlete of the Year in Bulgaria/the Balkans. He later also became Romania’s Athlete of the Year thanks to his Olympic and world-level performances.