Champions of 2025 – Swimmer David Popovici
The first world titles of 2025 for Romania were won in July by David Popovici. The greatest Romanian swimmer in history confirmed his worth at the world championships in Singapore.
Florin Orban, 29.12.2025, 13:45
The year 2025 has been relatively rich in international performances for Romanian sports. In European competitions in particular, medals came quickly, but when it comes to world championships, it took a while. The first world titles won by Romania in 2025 came only in July, in Singapore, at the 22ndedition of the World Aquatics Championships. Romania ranked 10thin the nation rankings, with three medals, two of which were gold medals won by the swimmer David Popovici in the 100 and 200-meter freestyle and bronze won by Constantin Popovici in the high diving event.
David’s first world title in Singapore was in the 200-meter freestyle. The Romanian passed the preliminaries with the best time. In the semifinals, he did not force himself and qualified for the finals with the fourth performance. However, the final came, and Popovici had a perfect race from a tactical point of view. He started well, but he did not force himself. He really gave it his all on the last length of the pool, when he decisively prevailed over his main opponent, the American Luke Hobson. He finished the race in one minute, 43 seconds and 53 hundredths, 29 hundredths earlier than Hobson, who ranked second. The young Japanese Tatsuya Murasa finished in third place, more than a second behind Popovici. The Romanian swimmer’s time was the best this year on the 200-meter distance, 11 hundredths of a second better than the previous season record, which David recorded in June at the European Youth Championships in Samorin, Slovakia.
The second world title was in the 100-meter freestyle, which David won just two days after triumphing in the 200m. The Romanian finished the final in 46 seconds and 51 hundredths, managing to set a new competition record and a new European record. He had entered the final with the second time in the semifinals, after having been the fastest in the heats. The silver medal went to the American Jack Alexy, who arrived 41 hundredths behind David, while the bronze went to the Australian Kyle Chalmers, with 47 seconds and 17 hundredths.
At just 21 years old, David Popovici is, in terms of results, the best swimmer in Romania’s history. He is a multiple world champion and at one point he held the world record in the 100-meter freestyle. He was born in Bucharest, on September 15, 2004. He stood out in junior competitions in 2021 when, at the European Championships in Rome, he won the 200, 100 and 50m freestyle, in the last event also achieving a junior world record. He managed to qualify for the Tokyo Olympic Games, where he ranked fourth in the 200-meter freestyle, two hundredths of a second away from the 3rd place. In senior competitions, he won his first major title in November 2021, when, in Kazan, Russia, he became European champion in the 200-meter freestyle. In 2022, he got the first place at the Senior World Championships in June, in Budapest.
The two titles he won in the Hungarian capital, in the 100 and 200-meter freestyle events, represented firsts for Romanian sports. Then, at the European Championships in Rome in August, he finished the 100-meter race in 46 seconds and 86 hundredths, a new world record. At the Paris Olympics, David Popovici was the athlete from whom the Romanian fans had the greatest expectations. And he live up to these expectations. He became the new Olympic champion in the 200-meter freestyle event and took the bronze medal in the 100-meter freestyle. (LS)
