Popovici Takes 100 Fly, Stancu Rips 3:47.17 Personal Best 400 Free At Romanian Cup

By Retta Race on SwimSwam

2023 ROMANIAN CUP

• Friday, June 2nd – Sunday, June 4th
• Otopeni, Romania
• LCM (50m)
• Day 1 Finals Results

The 2023 Romanian Cup kicked off last night from Otopeni, the site of the 2022 European Junior Championships.

Electric teenager David Popovici was indeed in the water, with the reigning 100m freestyle World Record holder taking on the 100m fly event.

18-year-old Popovici stopped the clock in a time of 52.45 to top the podium, beating the field by over a second. Runner-up status went to Daniel Martin who touched in 53.59 while Ghile Dragos rounded out the top 3 in 54.56.

As for Popovici, his time tonight fell within striking distance of his own national record set at April’s Romanian National Championships. At that competition, Popovici punched a result of 52.30, a lifetime best, consisting of splits of 24.34/27.96.

Last night, Popovici opened in 24.68 and closed in 27.77 to clock his winning effort of 52.45.

On his performance, Popovici stated post-race, “I like to do the newer butterfly as well and I want to see what I can get out of it. I felt good today, I’m in the middle of training and I think this is the last test more for us. A very important competition is coming up at the end of June, after which the World Championships is the last opportunity to test what we have in the tank with quite intense training.”

Another teenager making some noise on night one was 17-year-old Vlad Stancu in the men’s 400m free.

Stancu stopped the clock in a speedy outing of 3:47.17, a new lifetime best.

Entering this meet, Stancu’s career-quickest rested at the 3:48.38 he produced in Lima, Peru for silver at the 2022 World Junior Championships. Also last summer he scored silver in this 4 free event at the European Junior Championships, clocking a mark of 3:50.61.

This means Stancu’s performance here registers just the 2nd sub-3:50 outing of his young career and he inches closer to the longstanding Romanian national record of 3:46.70 Dragos Coman put on the books over 15 years ago in 2005.

In the meantime, Stancu’s 3;47.17 lifetime best dips under both the World Championships qualifying standard of 3:48.15, as well as the 3:47.91 Olympic Qualification Time for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France.

For perspective, among all-time American 17-18-year-olds, Stancu would rank 7th, situated ahead of the likes of Townley Haas, Andrew Abruzzo and Grant Shoults.

Stancu now ranks 17th in the world in the 400m free with the World Championships on the horizon.

SwimSwam: Popovici Takes 100 Fly, Stancu Rips 3:47.17 Personal Best 400 Free At Romanian Cup