Freestyle standout David Popovic (ROM) won the 100m-200m freestyle in a meet with a meet record as he prepares for a second straight World Championships title. However, he has yet to reach his record pace ahead of the 2023 World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, which begin next month on July 14.
Popovic won the men’s 꽁머니 200-meter freestyle final of the 59th Sette Coli Trophy at the Foro Italico in Rome, Italy, on Saturday in 1:45.49. It was a new meet record for the swimmer, who comfortably beat runner-up Tom Dean (Great Britain – 1:46.86). However, it was far from his best time. Popovic’s best 200m time is 1:42.97, which he set as a world junior record. He won last year’s World Championships in Budapest in 1:43.21.
This could be a positive sign for Hwang Sun-woo (Gangwon Province), who has the fastest men’s 200m freestyle time of the season. After finishing second to Popovic at the last World Championships in 1:44.47, Hwang recently won the Gwangju Championships in 1:44.61, touching the pads in 1:44.61. He moved to the top of the season rankings, ahead of Fan Zhanle (CHN), who clocked 1:44.65.
Popovic and Fan Zhanle are the favorites to win the 100m-200m freestyle at the World Championships. Popovic has been slow in his other main event, the 100-meter freestyle. In the 100-meter freestyle final the day before, Popovic won in a meet record time of 48.10 seconds. But even in this event, he was not able to improve on his season’s best of 47.61 토토 가입머니 즉시지급 (third best in the world this year). It was a far cry from the atmosphere at the European Championships in the same venue last August, where he set a world record of 46.86. It is nearly a full second off the 2023 world record of 47.22 set by Fan Zhanle (CHN). Hwang’s season’s best in the 100m freestyle is 47.79 (season ranking 7th).