Three Romanian swimmers secured their presence in the semifinals at the European Short Course Championships

Romania had four representatives in the heats on the third day of the European Short Course Championships in Lublin: Daria Asaftei (200m breaststroke), Darius Coman (200m breaststroke), Denis Popescu (100m backstroke) and Tudor Iordache (100m backstroke). Three of them advanced to the semi-finals.

Daria Asaftei, the middle of the delegation, qualified for the semifinals of the 200m breaststroke event with the third time, 2:21.50, being surpassed only by Angharad Evans (2:20.83) from Great Britain and Ellie McCartney (2:21.39) from Ireland. She placed second in her heat and will advance to the semifinals starting at 8:32 p.m.

Daria Asaftei achieved a new senior national record in this event, the old mark belonged to Brigitte Vass and was 2:22.88.

Darius Coman also ensured his presence in the semi-finals in the men's 200 m breaststroke event. He recorded the fifth time (2:05.12), being third in the last series. The semi-finals are scheduled for Thursday evening, from 20:42.

Denis Popescu also advanced to the semifinals of the 100 m backstroke with a time of 50.89 s, having the 13th performance of the series. The semi-finals take place at 21:01.

Tudor Iordache improved his personal best in the 100m backstroke, 51.76s, but was 17th and stopped in the heats.

Objective achieved at the European Short Course Championships

Romania has a delegation of eight swimmers in Lublin and so far only Denis Popescu has advanced to a final, he was seventh in the 50m butterfly. The objective drawn by the federation is a final, a goal reached from the first day through the evolution of Denis Popescu.

The Romanian delegation to the European Short Course Championships in Lublin

• FEMALE

• Daria Asaftei (16 years old) – 50 m breaststroke, 100 m breaststroke, 200 m breaststroke

• MALE

• Eric Andries (18 years old) – 100m freestyle, 200m freestyle, 400m freestyle

• Darius Coman (18 years old) – 200 m breaststroke, 200 m medley, 400 m medley

• Patrick Dinu (20 years old) – 50 m free, 100 m free, 200 m free

• Tudor Iordache (17 years old) – 50 m back, 100 m back, 200 m back

• Denis Popescu (22 years old) – 50 m backstroke, 100 m backstroke, 50 m butterfly

• Andrei Proca (18 years old) – 400 m free, 800 m free, 1500 m free

• Danis Volontir (18 years old) – 50 m breaststroke, 100 m breaststroke

The previous edition of the CE in the short course took place in Otopeni, and Romania was represented by 21 swimmers, David Popovici and Andrei Ungur managing to climb the third step of the podium in the 100 m freestyle and 100 m backstroke, respectively.

In the history of Romania's participation in this competition, fifteen medals have been collected, the only gold one being won by David Popovici in 2021, in Kazan, in the 200 m freestyle.