​David Popovici effortlessly reached the semi-finals of the 200m freestyle at the World Swimming Championships, and our athlete will return to the pool on Monday for the first important test in Fukuoka (Japan).

With a time of 1:45.86 (3rd time in the series), David will be in lane 5 in the second semi-final. The race will start at 15:17 (Romanian time).

In the series, Popovich was overtaken by American Luke Hobson (1:45.69) and British Matthew Richards (1.45.82), but experts expect the Romanian to make it through the semifinals only.

Know:

• David is the third fastest swimmer in history at this distance (1:42.97, at EC Rome 2022), after German Paul Biedermann (1:42.00) and American legend Michael Phelps (1:42.96).

• David Popovich races will LiveBlog on HotNews.ro and live on the AntenaPlay platform (paid, monthly subscription €7.99).

David Popovici, 200m and 100m freestyle at the Fukuoka Swimming Championships

David Popovichi and 200 m freestyle from the Swimming Championships

July 24 / Evenings / 1:45:86

July 24 / Semi-final / 15:11 or 15:17

July 25 / Final / 14:02

David Popovici and the 100m freestyle from the Swimming Championships

July 26 / Evening / time 05:13

July 26 / Semi-final / 14:26 or 14:30

July 27 / Final / 14:21

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David Popovici, two-time European and world champion in the summer of 2022

David Popovici won two gold medals at the European Swimming Championships in Rome in August 2022, our athlete was unstoppable in the 100m freestyle and also in the 200m freestyle.

We will remind you that in June 2022, David Popovich made a double at the World Swimming Championships in Budapest, having won the 100 m freestyle and 200 m freestyle.

During the entire World Swimming Championships, only one athlete managed to win the 100-meter and 200-meter freestyle events from the same edition.

It happened 49 years ago, and the one who ticks off this feat is called Jim Montgomery (USA – he is now 67 years old). That year, the competition was hosted by Belgrade.

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