Poll: Pick the Winner of the Men’s 200 Freestyle at the World Championships
In the coming weeks, Swimming World will offer its readership the opportunity to participate in polls geared toward the upcoming World Championships in Singapore. We’ll focus on highly anticipated races and impending showdowns, along with what times we might see a year removed from the Olympic Games in Pairs.
In this poll, we’re asking readers who will win the men’s 200-meter freestyle, an event that boasts considerable depth and will have all three returning Olympic medalists in action. Romania’s David Popovici is the reigning Olympic champion while Great Britain’s Matt Richards earned silver in Paris. Meanwhile, American Luke Hobson is coming off a bronze-medal performance.
Already this year, Popovici and Hobson have dipped below the 1:44 barrier. Popovici just went 1:43.64 at the European U-23 Championships, good for the top mark in the world this year. Just behind is Hobson, who prevailed at the United States Nationals with a swim of 1:43.73. As for Richards, he was pre-selected for the World Champs in the 200 free, so he hasn’t yet shown his full hand in 2025.
What will happen in Singapore? Will one of the Olympic medalist be crowned world champion? Or, will someone else grab this year’s global title. Let us know by voting in the poll below.