Romanian teen breaks 100 free record

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. “There was no rush and I had to be extremely patient about the world record,” Popovici said. “It has hurt but it’s always worth it and I feel fine right now. It felt great and it’s very special to break this record which was set here in

2009 by César Cielo.” Cielo still holds the record in the 50 free, which is among eight men’s long-course standards that remain from the rubber-suit era. Five of those were set at those supercharged 2009 worlds.