Two down, one more to go for Popovici

ROME • At last year's Tokyo Games, two of Caeleb Dressel's five Olympic gold medals came in the individual freestyle events as he emerged as the top performer at the quadrennial event.

David Popovici, then 16, was also in Japan and the youngest member of Romania's team also made it to the 100m free final, where he finished a creditable seventh, six places behind the American.

The teen sensation was an unknown quantity then, but over the past 12 months, the 17-year-old has developed into the most exciting swimming talent around.

At the world championships in Budapest in June, he outpaced Dressel in the 100m heats.

And when the seven-time Olympic gold medallist withdrew from the competition, Popovici took advantage of his absence to clinch the 100m-200m free double.

Last Saturday, his progress went to the next level, erasing Brazilian Cesar Cielo's 13-year-old world record in the 100m free, which was set in the era of the now banned buoyant body suits, by 0.05 seconds with his 46.86sec effort at the European Championships.

But Popovici is not done yet. On Monday, he swam the third quickest time in history to claim the 200m free gold - just 0.97sec short of German Paul Biedermann's 13-year-old world mark - and he has set his sights on a third gold in the 400m free today.

He cruised to his second title in Rome in 1min 42.97sec with Switzerland's Antonio Djakovic in second place and Austria's Felix Auboeck third, both over 2sec behind.

As Popovici is still considered a junior, his world-record mark in the 100m free is also the world junior mark, as is his time in the 200m free.

He swam 0.24sec faster in the 200m compared to his Budapest time, cementing his huge ceiling in the sport, with his 18th birthday only happening next month.

Despite the hype around him, Popovici was his usual collected self as he told SwimSwam website the key to staying focused was staying off social media.

"After the (100m) world record, the attention was huge," he said.

"I think what helped me to stay focused was that I avoided checking the social media. As positive as it can be, social media can be toxic as well. I knew I would have had a hard time falling asleep, so I think that was a good decision. My plan is to keep on working hard and going forward, step by step.

"It was a hard race (200m free) to swim and I think my time is well-earned. This is an excellent time. Finally, I could go under 1:43, which is great. The immediate plans are to relax a bit tomorrow and then test the water in the 400m."

France won the mixed 4x100m freestyle relay in 3:22.80 with Britain in second and Sweden in third. Italy finished fourth despite leading at the halfway mark.

There was reason to celebrate for the crowd, however, as home darling Simona Quadarella added to her 800m freestyle gold by clinching the women's 1,500m in 15:54.15. Hungary's Viktoria Mihalyvari-Farkas was second and Italy's Martina Rita Caramignoli came third.

Sweden's Louise Hansson won the women's 100m butterfly in 56.66sec, in front of France's Marie Wattel and Bosnia and Herzegovina's Lana Pudar.

In the women's 200m breaststroke final, Switzerland's Lisa Mamie took gold ahead of Italy's Martina Carraro and Lithuania's Kotryna Teterevkova.

Apostolos Christou of Greece pipped Italy's Thomas Ceccon by 0.04sec to take the men's 50m backstroke title, with German Ole Braunschweig collecting bronze.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE