In recent months, David Popovich has won 10 gold medals, breaking the world record in the 100-meter freestyle. Swimming World Magazine, the most important magazine in world swimming, says that the Romanian swimmer can become the best of all time if he improves certain sections.

Davyd PopovychPhoto: ERNESTO BENAVIDES / AFP / Profimedia

At the recent Junior Swimming Championships in Lima, Peru, David Popovici won gold in the 100m and 200m freestyle, as well as gold in the men’s 4x100m freestyle and silver in the 4x100m medley.

Swimming World Magazine: David Popovich, Greatest Swimmer of All Time If He Builds Muscle or Improves Second Lap Time

According to the American magazine, David Popovich can improve if he builds muscle mass for a better start or if he can swim faster in the second lap of the 100-meter freestyle.

“This summer, David Popovici broke the 100-meter world record that had been held by Cesar Cielo for 13 years. The Brazilian swam the hundred in 46.91 seconds, returned in 22.17 seconds and took the second length in the pool in 24.74.

Over the past 13 years, Cameron McEvoy, Kyle Chalmers, James Magnussen or Kliment Kolesnikov have come close to the mark set by the South American, but have not been able to overcome it.

However, they all had something in common: they started off weaker, recovering in the last 50 meters. The fastest of these was Chalmers, who in 2019 ran the second half of the race in 24.29, nearly half a second behind Cielo.

But when Popovych set the world record, he swam the first 50 meters slower than everyone mentioned above. He clocked 22.74 and then swam the second length in 24.12 seconds.

The Romanian returned to 22.93 the day before in the semi-finals of the European Championships in Rome, clocking an incredible 24.05 seconds in the second leg, the first time under 47 seconds in history.

Popovich’s pace in the final 50 meters is too high for his competition to handle, but what if he manages to improve his start?

As Popovich gets through his teenage years and puts on more muscle mass, he will get stronger and stronger in this competition and set records to match his incredible standards.

He does not even need to significantly improve his start, because he will have enough strength to approach the quota of 23 seconds in the second leg, a barrier that was not considered possible before the appearance of the Romanian swimmer. – swimmingworldmagazine.com.

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, our athlete was unstoppable in the 100m freestyle and also in the 200m freestyle.

We will remind you that in June of this year, David Popovichi did a double at the World Swimming Championships in Budapest, he managed to prove himself at distances of 100 and 200 m free swimming.

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 person celebrating this feat is called Jim Montgomery (USA – he is now 67 years old). That year, the competition was hosted by Belgrade.

You may also be interested in:

  • David Popovich’s obsession: “I want to reach this status as soon as possible”
  • David Popovici, a message for Romanians after a year in which he took the swimming world by storm
  • The legendary Oleksandr Popov was asked if he would compete with David Popovich – The spectacular answer of the multiple Olympic champion
  • Sensational David Popovich through the eyes of the former 100m freestyle record holder: It’s scary how much he can improve
  • The Hungarian press and a big surprise – there are no swimming pools in Romania, but there is an “alien”: David Popovici