European Championships, Day Five Finals: More History Beckons For David Popovici
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David Popovici can write another line in history with the 100/200 freestyle treble double on the line in Paris tonight.
The Romanian won the double at Roma 2022 and Belgrade 2024 and he has already made it three straight 100 free titles in the French capital. He is in lane four for the 200 at the Olympic Aquatic Centre tonight.
Angharad Evans won the 100m breaststroke although world record-holder Evgeniia Chikunova presents a formidable barrier to her hopes of a double in the 200.
Simona Quadarella returns after 800 gold for the 1500 final, Pavel Samusenko heads the men’s 50 back and the mixed 4×100 free crown will be decided.
Ahead of the action, there was a standing ovation for Laure Manaudou with the crowd rising as one to cheer the retired Olympic, world and European champion.
Women’s 100m Butterfly
Roos Vanotterdijk defended the title she won two years in Belgrade with a gun to tape victory.
The Belgian was a sliver inside European record pace at halfway in 25.97 before coming home to touch in 56.08 as she added 100 gold to her 50 fly silver behind the great Sarah Sjostrom.
Angelina Kohler, the 2024 world champion, was second in 56.39 with Neutral Athlete Daria Klepikova third in 56.76.
Men’s 200 Freestyle
For the third time in his still developing career, David Popovici has completed the 100/200 freestyle double at the European Championships. The Romanian took care of the longer distance on Friday night in Paris, leading wire-to-wire for victory in 1:44.15. Popovici was never threatened en route to capping the same feat he managed at the 2022 and 2024 editions of the Euro Champs.
Coming off the No. 3 performance in history in the 100 freestyle, Popovici didn’t record one of his best times in the 200 freestyle, but he was plenty strong enough to defeat Lithuania’s Tomas Navikonis (1:44.55) and Great Britain’s James Guy (1:44.87), who were the silver and bronze medalists and produced personal-best times.
Popovici took the lead off the start, splitting 24.01 for the opening 50 meters and going through the midway point of the race in 50.53. Given his finishing history, Popovici was perfectly positioned at that stage and he closed out his latest gold with a 1:17.36 split at the 150 and a homecoming length of 26.79. Navikonis actually out-split Popovici on the final lap, behind a split of 26.37, but his early deficit left too much room to overcome.
Guy’s bronze medal matched the third-place finish he recorded at the 2016 European Championships, that timespan exhibiting Guy’s staying power in the sport. More impressive is the fact that he set a personal best, lowering his previous top time of 1:45.04. For Guy to join the sub-1:45 club 30 years old is a tribute to his longevity.
Women’s 200m Breaststroke
Evgeniia Chikunova came through on the final 50 to clinch the title and thwart Angharad Evans’ bid for the 100/200 double.
Evans went through 100 in 1:06.54 – well inside Chikunova’s WR pace – but the Neutral Athlete bided her time, acting as the hound to Evans’ hare. She came past the Briton in 2:19.32, 0.54 inside the championship record of 2:19.84 held by Dane Rikke Moller Pedersen since Berlin 2014.
Evans was second in 2:21.21 to become the fourth British woman to win silver in this event and the first since Molly Renshaw at Berlin 2014. Evans has now won three golds and a silver across the Commonwealth Games and European Championships in what has been a real breakthrough season for the Scot.
Mona McSharry of Ireland clinched her second medal of the week in 2:22.43 to add to her 100 silver.
