Athlete of the week
The swimmer Daria Silișteanu
Florin Orban, 08.07.2025, 13:45
The members of the young generation of Romanian swimmers bring medals from all the major competitions in which they take part.
In Slovakia, this June, the European Youth Swimming Championships took place, followed, the other day, by those for juniors. In the competition for athletes under 23 years of age, which we have already covered in our broadcasts, Romania won 5 medals, 3 of which were gold and 2 bronze. On that same occasion, David Popovici set a new European record in the 100-m freestyle.
Romania’s juniors also won 5 medals in the competitions for swimmers aged between 14 and 17 for women and between 15 and 18 for men. Robert Badea, in the 400-m individual medley, and Daria Silișteanu, in the 100-m backstroke, climbed to the highest step of the podium. Badea also won a silver medal in the 200-m medley, while Silișteanu got a bronze in the 50-m backstroke. Adding to the Romanian team’s record was the bronze won by Claudia Prisecariu, in the 200-m backstroke.
It is out of these athletes that we chose the Athlete of the Week. We selected Daria Silișteanu, because, apart from the medals, she also broke the national record in the 50-m backstroke, with a time that brought her the bronze in the final: 28.26 seconds.
Daria Silișteanu was born on March 10, 2009, in Fălticeni (northeastern Romania). She came into the spotlight in April 2023, at the National Championships held in Otopeni, where she won as many as 12 medals. At that time she won, among other things, 3 national titles each, in the seniors, youth and juniors categories, in 50 m backstroke, 50 m butterfly and 100 m backstroke.
In July 2023, at the European Junior Swimming Championships in Belgrade, Daria qualified for the 50 m backstroke final timed at 28.59 seconds, improving Romania’s national senior record by 0.14 seconds. The previous record had lasted 21 years and belonged to Diana Mocanu, twice Olympic champion in 2000, in Sydney, in the 100 m and 200 m backstroke events.
Then, in the final of the 50-m backstroke race at the European Junior Championships in Belgrade, Daria broke her own record, finishing the race in 28.46 seconds and winning the bronze medal. So the Belgrade record stood for two years, until last week. (AMP)
