Swimming world championships competitor David Popovici from Romania claimed he felt “awful” after coming in fourth place in a shocking upset in the men’s 200m freestyle on Tuesday.
One of the sport’s biggest names, Popovici was the overwhelming favourite going into the race in Fukuoka. The 18-year-old defending champion took the lead early and easily, and as he approached the final 50 metres, it appeared as though he would coast to victory.
But as his competitors closed in on him, he started to tire terribly and entirely missed the medals as Britain’s Matthew Richards won in 1 minute, 44.30 seconds.
Popovici came in fourth with a time of 1:44.90, behind South Korean Hwang Sun-woo in third place and Britain’s Tom Dean in second place with a time of 1:44.32.
Popovici expressed his belief that his unexpected loss would really turn out to be “a good thing” as he pursues gold at the Olympics in Paris in 2016.
“You know that you’ve basically reached the top, the limit,” he added, “if you have the absolutely perfect race and you have nothing else to improve.”
Popovici completed the 100m-200m freestyle double at the world championships for the first time in nearly 50 years last year in Budapest.