Popovici sets new 100m freestyle record at European C’ship

ROME: David Popovici broke the men’s 100m freestyleworldrecordtowingoldattheeuropean Championships in Rome on Saturday.

The 17-ye a r-old Roma nia n double world cha mpion swam 46.86sec to slice 0.05sec off the old marksetbybraziliancesarcielointhe same pool at the 2009 World Championships in the era of buoyant body suits.

The fa ste st time in a textile suit ha d be e n 46.96 se t by Ame rica n Olympic cha mpion Ca e le b Dre sse l at the 2019 World Championships.

Hunga ry’s Kristof Mila k wa s se cond on Sa turda y with Italy’s Alessandro Miressi third.

Popovici had eased into the final on Friday with a new European record of 46.98 seconds.

Only two othe r swimme rs ma na ge d to dip unde r 48sec on Friday, Milak and Miressi in the other semi-final, but both were some way off Popovici.

In June, Popovici became the first man to complete the 100-200m freestyle double at the World Championships in nearly 50 years.

In a golden summmer, he also won three European junior titles in his home town of Bucharest.

Anothe r 17-ye a r-old world cha mpion a lso a dde d Europe a n gold on Sa turda y. Ita lia n Be ne de ta Pila to won the wome n’s 100m bre a ststroke in 1:05.97, more tha n a se cond-a nd-ha lf outside the world re cord se t by American Lilly King in 2017. Pilato was followed home by compatriot Lisa Angiolini and Lithuania’s Ruta Meilutyte, the 50m world champion.

Pila to imita te d he r compa triot Fe de rico Poggio, whowonthemen’s200mbreaststrokeonfriday.

Swedish veteran Sarah Sjostrom won the women’s 50m buterfly gold for the fith time in 24.96. The 28-year-old is the only woman to go under 25 seconds in the events in a 50m pool.

France’s Marie Watel won silver in 25.33 with Maaike de Waard of the Netherlands a distant third in 25.62. Frenchman Yohann Ndoye Brouard won the ope ning fina l of the eve ning whe n he took the men’s 200m backstroke in 1 min 55.62 sec.

Ndoye Broua rd ha d to swim his se mi-fina l twice on Friday because of a problem with his starting block and ended up qualifying on time in an empty pool. He beat Hungary’s Benedek Kovacs in 1:56.03 and England’s Luke Greenbank (1:56.15).

Ukraine’s Marta Fiedina followed up on her artistic swimming team technical gold by winning the solo technical discipline, pipping local hope Linda Ceruti in the final moments.