The Romanian swimmer David Popovici won the final of the 100 m freestyle, on Thursday evening, at the Mare Nostrum competition in Barcelona, with a time of 48sec49/100.

Popovici beat the South Korean Sunwoo Hwang by only two hundredths, timed in 48sec51/100, the podium being completed by the Japanese Katsuhiro Matsumoti, 48sec79/100.

Italian Thomas Ceccon, multiple world and European champion, ranked fourth, tied with Serbian Andrej Barna, in 48sec84/100. Another Italian, Alessandro Miressi, European champion of the event in 2018, ranked sixth, in 49sec04/100.

British Jacob Whittle, double European relay champion in 2022, took seventh place, with a time of 49sec21/100.

Patrick-Sebastian Dinu ranked eighth (last), in the final, with a time of 50sec93/100.

This year, David Popovici achieved the best time in the 100m freestyle at the Otopeni National Championships in April, when he won the title with 47sec86/100.

David Popovici, the reigning European champion in the 100 and 20m freestyle, also won the 200m freestyle in Barcelona on Wednesday evening. Popovici is preparing for the participation in the European Swimming Championships in Belgrade (June 10-23).

Also on Thursday Daria-Mariuca Silisteanu took the last place in Final B (16) in 100m backstroke, with a time of 1 min 03sec 47/100. The victory went to the Dutch Kira Toussaint, with a time of 1 min 00 sec 00/100.

AGERPRES