Tickets for “Sprint with the Stars”, the event organized by David Popovici in Otopeni, have gone on sale

David Popovici has a soul project in which he gathers children around him and other world swimming stars. The competition is called “Sprint with the Stars” and will take place on January 17 in the Otopeni Swimming Complex. It will be the first international edition of this format, which has so far only taken place in the UK.

The Romanian swimmer was present in London twice at the “Sprint with the Stars” in 2023 and 2025, he liked the format, and now he is bringing it to Romania. “David first took part in Sprint with the Stars London in 2023 and when he was offered a participation bonus he insisted on taking part free of charge to add to the participants' experience.

Since then, we have been constantly discussing how we can bring this event to Romania for our first international edition. And here we are! I am extremely excited about this partnership with David, who is deeply committed to developing opportunities for young swimmers in Romania,” said Ed Baxter, one of the founders of this project.

The concept of this unique competition belongs to Adam Peaty, triple Olympic champion in breaststroke, and Ed Baxter. It is an initiative where beginner swimmers, children, have the opportunity to compete with the best swimmers in the world. The competition is held only in short races of 50 meters in all procedures. The fastest 9 competitors in each age group advance from the heats to the finals.

There, in the middle lane, swims one of the guest stars, who will follow the rest of the swimmers, leaving with a handicap calculated according to age.

David Popovici and the reason why he organizes “Sprint with the Stars” in Romania

Why did David want to bring this original concept to Romania? “Simple, because I wish I had this when I was a kid. So I'm doing it, in a way, for the kid in me who didn't have an event like this when he was little, so the chance to compete with the best swimmers in the world.” said the four-time world champion for GSP.ro.

He added: “The participating stars are world or Olympic semi-finalists. They're all in the top 16 in the world, some have even made the world or Olympic podium. I'm doing it for the kid in me and I'm doing it for the little swimmers to have this really cool chance to compete with us.”

In addition to David Popovici (free), Adam Peaty (breaststroke), Finnish Veera Kivirinta (breaststroke), British Lauren Cox (back), Greek Apostolos Christou (back), German Angelina Köhler (butterfly) and Portuguese Diogo Ribeiro (butterfly) will also be present in the Otopeni pool.

The stars who will swim in Otopeni

• MALE

• David Popovici (Romania) – Olympic champion, four-time world champion, four-time European champion

• Adam Peaty (Great Britain) – triple Olympic champion, eight-time world champion, 16 European gold medals

• Diogo Ribeiro (Portugal) – double world champion

• Apostolos Christou (Greece) – Olympic vice-champion, world medalist, triple European champion

• FEMALE

• Angelina Köhler (Germany) – world champion

• Roos Vanotterdijk (Belgium) – double world medalist, European champion

• Lauren Cox (Great Britain) – World and European medallist

• Veera Kivirinta (Finland) – European vice-champion

Registration for the little ones can be done until January 4th, and tickets went on sale on December 12th and can be purchased from the eMAG app.