Athelete of the Week: the swimmer Daria Silișteanu
Last week brought Romania a new national record in swimming.
Florin Orban, 14.07.2026, 13:45
The European Junior Swimming Championships that took place last week in Munich proved that Romanian swimming has a future. Romanian athletes won 3 medals, added to which were other valuable performances that show that there is potential for more. Daria Silișteanu won the gold medal in the 50m backstroke and silver in the 100m backstroke finals. In the 200m backstroke event, Aissia Prisecariu won the bronze medal. Due to these results, Radio Romania International designates Daria Silișteanu the Athlete of the Week.
In the 50-meter backstroke final in Munich, Daria Silișteanu won in 27.94 seconds. This result is a new senior record for Romania. Daria was followed by the Spanish athlete Irene Ciercoles Galve, with 27.97 seconds, and by the Frenchwoman Jeanne Lechevalier, with 28.07 seconds. The same 3 athletes also climbed the podium in the 100m backstroke, with the Spaniard in first place and Daria in second. Jeanne Lechevalier took the bronze, but remained the only one with three individual medals in the backstroke events, after having also won the gold in the 200m race.
Daria Silișteanu was born on March 10, 2009, in Fălticeni (northeastern Romania). She has stood out since the National Championships of April 2023, hosted by Otopeni, where she won as many as 12 medals. Then she won, among other things, 3 national titles, at senior, youth and junior levels, in the 50m backstroke, 50m butterfly and 100m backstroke. In July 2023, at the European Junior Swimming Championships in Belgrade, Daria qualified for the 50m backstroke final with 28.59 seconds, improving Romania’s national senior record by 0.14 seconds. The previous record had stood for 21 years and belonged to the twice Olympic champion Diana Mocanu, who won the 100 and 200m backstroke events in 2000, in Sydney. Subsequently, the young athlete broke this record several times, taking it below the 28-second threshold this April and improving it again, last Wednesday. (AMP)
