ROME—Seventeen-year-old David Popovici of Romania became the youngest swimmer to break the world swimming record in the men’s 100-meter freestyle Saturday, beating the mark set more than 13 years ago in the same pool.
Popovici touched in 46.86 seconds at the European championships to top the time of 46.91 set by Brazil’s César Cielo at the 2009 world championships, which also were held at Rome’s historic Foro Italico.
Cielo established his record on July 30, 2009, at the last major international meet to allow rubberized suits. It stood longer than any record in the event’s history, going back to 1905.
Now, it belongs to one of the sport’s budding stars….