David Popovici collides with the impossible record: not even the prodigy ends with plastic swimsuits

And if that world record is impossible, and if it is beyond the reach of the human being, and if it will remain in the books for centuries. Plastic swimsuits and their effects. That invention that between 2008 and 2009 revolutionized swimming remains in history as an indelible stain. Not even the greatest talents in history have managed to reduce the time that the German Paul Biedermann, a second-rate swimmer, marked in the 200-meter freestyle dressed from top to bottom in polyurethane.

Michael Phelps, the legend, spent his whole life training, and training, and training to break the barrier of one minute and 44 seconds in such a mythical distance and when he did, Biedermann and his suit appeared to set a record forever: 1:42:00. That day, July 28, 2009, at the World Cup in Rome, the German himself admitted that his success had a trick -his previous best mark was 1:46-, that he would like to beat Phelps “without needing a swimsuit” and that he had to return “to real swimming”, but his record continues there. Only a marvel in a state of grace could surpass it.

And David Popovici thought this was his moment.. This Tuesday, at the Fukuoka World Cup, he stood before the very high wall that Biedermann built, looked up, took a run, jumped into the skies of history…. and crashed against the stone. it was violent. it was nasty. It was a failure. The marvel, currently the fastest man on the planet, fell to the bottom in search of the 200-meter record and was left without history, without gold and even without a podium. In the last moments he was surpassed by the British Matthew Richards and Tom Dean and the South Korean Sunwoo Hwang to leave him in fourth position with a time (1:44:90) slower than that recorded in the semifinals.

A simple analysis of his career explains the disappointment. In the first length, Popovici was not only faster than Biedermann, he was faster than any other swimmer in history (23.74 seconds) and then paid off.. When completing 100 meters, he was still at a world record pace (50.18), but at 150 meters he was already behind (01:16:78) and in the last length he suffered like never before in his life. His final set (28.12) was the slowest of all the finishers, possibly his slowest set since childhood..

Will he make it in the future?

“Nobody likes to lose like that, but I'm not mad.. I've done three really good lengths and I couldn't take it anymore. I have given everything I could. That's the way sport is”, declared a relaxed Popovici. He is 18 years old. He will try again. After the Tokyo 2020 Games, when he was just a teenager, he declared on the 'Inside With Brett Hawke' podcast that Biedermann's record was “the most difficult of all”, but it was not impossible. “I will need time, passion and patience”, he commented then and, with those three ingredients, he could achieve it.

His attempt this Tuesday might seem like the excess of a daring young man, but it was not. Among many other reasons, one: last year Popovici already broke a plastic world record, in the 100-meter freestyle, held by César Cielo. Precisely in that distance, Popovici will have the option of winning gold in this Fukuoka World Cup -it will be on Thursday- although he will have to return to the 200-meter freestyle to challenge the past.

Your place in history depends on it.. Due to his qualities, although he flirts with the butterfly and the styles, Popovici will hardly reach the medal records of Phelps, he will not even come close. By his nature, discreet, studious, happy living in Bucharest, it will be difficult for him to achieve the media prominence of his American or British rivals.. But if he surpasses Biedermann's record, no one can deny him a place on Olympus.

Other records will remain (Biedermann himself has the 400-meter freestyle) from the time of plastic swimsuits, but he will have finished with the most paradigmatic. In their favor, the room for improvement due to their youth, the appearance of rivals at the height -Richards and Hwang are 20 years old- and the technology of current swimsuits, which are not made of plastic, but made of carbon that is increasingly lighter and more compressive.. Perhaps the 2024 Paris Games are the ideal scenario. Against him, that these are no longer times of miracles, of exaggerated improvements, of tricks. Maybe the story is over. And if Biedermann's world record in the 200-meter freestyle is impossible, and if it is beyond the reach of the human being, and if it will remain in the books for centuries.