FUKUOKA – Romanian swim star David Popovici said he felt “awful” after finishing fourth in a stunning upset in the men’s 200m freestyle at swimming’s World Championships on Tuesday.
The 18-year-old is one of the sport’s brightest stars and was a red-hot favourite going into the race in Fukuoka.
He comfortably led from the start and looked set to coast home to retain his title as he reached the final 50 metres. However, he faded badly on the home straight as his rivals closed in, and ended up out of the medals completely as Britain’s Matthew Richards took gold in 1min 44.30sec.
Richards’ compatriot Tom Dean was second on 1:44.32 and South Korea’s Hwang Sun-woo (1:44.42) was third, leaving Popovici fourth on 1:44.90.
But the Romanian teenager insisted that his shock defeat could turn out to be “a good thing” as he eyes gold at the Paris Olympics in 2024.
“It felt awful, but that means we can improve something. If you have the absolute perfect race and you have nothing else to improve, you know that you’ve basically reached the top, the limit,” he said.
“You know that you can do nothing better from there on. I’m glad it happened now and I’m sure it has a meaning and I’m going to learn from it.”
In the 2022 edition in Budapest, Popovici became the first man to complete the 100m-200m free double at a World Championships in nearly 50 years.
He followed that up by smashing the 100m free world record at the European Championships in Rome.
He will still attempt to retain his 100m free title in Fukuoka, but said that first he would “sleep good and eat well and do my rundown”.
“The 100, fortunately, is two times shorter. That doesn’t mean it’s not going to hurt. I don’t think it’s going to hurt as bad though,” he added.
Richards was competing in his first World Championships final and said it had been “a hell of a race”.
“We knew going into that that was one of the most stacked 200 freestyle fields in a very long time. I’m really happy that we managed to get that done tonight and hopefully it’s the first of many,” he said.
In other finals, Katie Ledecky claimed her 20th world title after winning the women’s 1,500m free. The American came home in 15min 26.27sec to finish ahead of Italy’s Simona Quadarella (15:43.310) and China’s Li Bingjie (15:45.71).
“I feel good – it hurt a lot but I’m really happy with the outcome. I’m just having a lot of fun this week,” Ledecky said.
She has now claimed her fifth world title in an event she has dominated, having swum the top 15 fastest times ever.
The 26-year-old could become the first swimmer ever to win six titles in one event if she wins the 800m free this week.
“It’s just a lot of hard work and really great people around me,” she said when asked about the secret to her success.
“My coaches over the last 10-plus years, really since I started swimming when I was six, have been incredible. And I have really great teammates right now that push me every day.”
Ledecky has already won one silver in Fukuoka, finishing second to Australia’s Ariarne Titmus in the 400m free on the opening night.
Also on Tuesday, Australia’s Kaylee McKeown won the women’s 100m backstroke title. The Olympic gold medallist came home in 57.53sec to beat defending champion Regan Smith (57.78) and her fellow American Katharine Berkoff (58.25).
American Ryan Murphy clinched the men’s event, finishing in 52.22sec to beat Italy’s defending champion Thomas Ceccon (52.27) and American Hunter Armstrong (52.58).
Lithuania’s Ruta Meilutyte won the women’s 100m breaststroke, coming home in 1min 4.62sec to finish ahead of South Africa’s Tatjana Schoenmaker (1:05.84) and Olympic champion Lydia Jacoby of the US (1:05.94). AFP
