WATCH: David Popovici Swims 1:43.06 200 Free to Win Romanian National Title

David Popovici added another national title to his haul on Friday with a victory in the men’s 200-meter freestyle at the Romanian Short Course National Championships in Otopeni. The 18-year-old freestyle ace reached the wall in 1:43.06, slightly slower than his own national record of 1:42.12 from the European Short Course Championships in Kazan a year ago. “It’s my own record from last year, done in Kazan,” Popovici told local media after the race. “I’ll probably beat it soon. It’s not necessarily something I set for myself, but if it happens, I’ll gladly accept it, as usual. What’s it like to break my own records? Pleasure. I know that’s one of the only goals in swimming: to beat myself.” Popovici was more than three seconds ahead of the field as Mihai Gergely touched second in 1:46.59 and Vlad Stefan Mihalache placed third with a 1:49.08. He hasn’t lost an individual final in over a year since the FINA World Cup stop in Kazan last October. “I am satisfied,” Popovici said. “The only goal was to come out clean, to be a calculated and well-structured race. I’m going to talk to the coach next, but it felt good, it felt like I was getting more and more ready for the Worlds next month.” Swimming news courtesy of SwimSwam.com (https://swimswam.com) Click here to listen and subscribe on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/3UGrNWo... Click here to listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Click here to listen and subscribe on Podbean https://swimswam.podbean.com/ Click here to listen and subscribe on Google https://podcasts.google.com/?feed=aHR... Follow SwimSwam on: Facebook:   / swimswamnews   Twitter:   / swimswamnews   Instagram:   / swimswamnews