David Popovici is one of the five finalists for the 2021 Summer Piotr Nurowski “Best European Young Athlete” Prize (PNP).
Born in Bucharest, Romania in 2004, David is a top-class freestyle swimmer.
He first made a splash on the international scene in 2019 at the European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) in Baku, where he won the gold medal in 100m freestyle and silver in both the 50m and 200m events.
In 2021 at the age of 16, David reached even greater heights. He broke the World Junior record in the 100m Freestyle with a time of 47″30 and the European Junior record in the 200m Freestyle at the European Junior Swimming Championships in Rome.
A strong believer in the Olympic spirit, David says he hopes to win the PNP as it will help him achieve his objective of inspiring more people to connect with sports.
His favourite memory about his young career so far was the moment before battle at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, where he finished fourth in the Men’s 200m Freestyle and seventh in the Men’s 100m Freestyle. As the youngest athlete on the Romanian Olympic team, he says he will never forget the feeling of standing poolside before the competition next to his rivals.
When not in the pool, David cultivates his passion for biking and magic tricks.
