David Popovici put on his goggles, inflated his lungs and exhaled, heading for the Fukuoka pool benches. Not a gesture on the face of the fastest swimmer in the world was indicative on his debut day. Neither cold nor heat, neither anxiety nor calm. Like a poker player, he took care not to reflect feelings. Nor in the water, where he swam at his most predictable times, as if he didn’t want to show his cards even though everyone knows what he’s up to. He wants to be the first man in the history of swimming to win the two major freestyle tests, the 100 and 200 meters, in two world championships. He did it in Budapest in 2022, where he reproduced the feat of Jim Montgomery in 1973, the only precedent. He now seeks to repeat it in Japan, where this Monday he swam the preliminaries of the 200 and was placed for the final on Tuesday (1:00 p.m., RTVE Play and Teledeporte) with the shortest time: 1 minute 44.70 secondsfifth best mark of the season.
Slightly slower than a year ago when he qualified for the final (1m 44.40s), Popovici swam his first 200 with opposition in 2023 in Fukuoka. The Romanian carries an invisible but extremely heavy ballast. He goes through the year following his consecration, after beating the world record of 100 and achieving two world gold medals, and faces a psychological void that forces him to question himself about the meaning of setting new goals. Having become a national idol in his country can be a stimulus or a burden. He must discover it on the fly and with hardly any references. Unlike most of his rivals, who come from going through sieves in the United States, Australia, Great Britain or Japan, where the competition is abundant, both in university tournaments and in trials In qualifying, Popovici’s only touchstone before appearing at the world championships was the spring Romanian Cup. Without contrast, swimming alone, he stopped the clock at 1m 47.39s, any time. A mark that this Monday before touching the water placed him as 118th in the ranking of the season.
Without acclimatization to the maximum challenge of measuring himself against the best, and at just 18 years old, too little to accumulate experience, Popovici led the preliminary and the semifinal more pending to watch the contestants than to test himself. He accelerated, then moved to cruising speed, as if swimming a 400, and all the while gauging the reaction of his adversaries. He detected two daredevils. Both the British Matt Ricards in the morning and the American Luke Hobson in the semifinal in the afternoon, followed in his wake until the last turn. There they tried to surprise him with underwater swimming and leg acceleration. Popovici’s response was serene. He only fed coal to the boiler (four to six kicks per cycle) in the last 20 meters.
If he does not allow himself to be ambushed, if he is able to impose his most powerful cadence, Popovici will hang the gold in the 200m on Tuesday, the foundation of his attack on the gold in the 100m on Thursday. For now, the podiums in Fukuoka on the second day of racing were divided between China and the United States. With the permission of the disqualification of the Australian Kaylee McKeown, the Americans Kate Douglas and Alex Walsh were gold and silver in 200 styles respectively (2m07.17s and 2m07.97s). For China it was the gold in the women’s 100m butterfly, dominated by Yufei Zhang (96.12s), and the gold in the 100m breaststroke, conquered by Quin Haiyang (57.69s) thanks to the absence of Englishman Adam Peaty (world record with 56.88s), who is not known if he is preparing his final retirement or taking a sabbatical before the Paris 2024 Games.
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