Denis Popescu (22 years old) stopped in the semifinals of the 50 m backstroke event at the European Short Course Championships in Lublin, with a new personal record.
Romania had only one representative in Saturday evening's meeting at the European Short Course Championships in Lublin.
Denis Popescu swam in the semifinals of the 50 m backstroke. The Romanian started in the second semi-final, in lane one, and finished in fifth position, with a time of 23.11 s. When the line was drawn for the final, the Romanian was ninth, tied with Thierry Bolin and Mantas Kauspedas. The last swimmer to qualify for the final was Frenchman Lucian Vergnes, with a time of 23.08.
The time achieved by Denis Popescu, 23.11 s in the semi-finals, is a new personal record, he surpasses the mark of 23.15, achieved this year at the National Short Course Championships in Otopeni.
Denis also participated in two events, 100 m butterfly and 100 m backstroke, in both qualifying for the final and new personal records.
On Saturday morning, Tudor Iordache (50m backstroke), Daria Asaftei (50m breaststroke), Danis Volontir (50m breaststroke) and Patrick Dinu (50m freestyle) competed in the heats, all stopping in the heats.
Darius Coman, the last tricolor swimmer in the competition
On Sunday, the last day of the European Short Course Championships, Darius Coman will swim in the 400 m mixed heats.
Romania participated with eight swimmers in the Lublin edition: Daria Asaftei, Eric Andries, Darius Coman, Patrick Dinu, Tudor Iordache, Denis Popescu, Andrei Proca and Danis Volontir, three of them managing to reach the finals: Darius Coman in the 200 m breaststroke, where he was fifth, Daria Asaftei in the 200 m breaststroke, where he placed sixth, and Denis Popescu in the 50 m butterfly (7th place) and 100 m backstroke (6th place).
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.
