Antonio Djakovic qualified for the final of the 400m freestyle of the Europeans in Rome by signing the 3rd time in the heats. The 19-year-old Thurgovian swam in 3’47”67 on Wednesday morning, 0”32 better than the prodigy David Popovici (4th).
Present in the last series, Antonio Djakovic started strong, as usual. In the lead until the 250 meters, the vice-champion of Europe in the 200 m free resisted the Germans Henning Mühlleitner (3’46”79) and Lukas Maertens (3’47”38) without forcing his talent.
Antonio Djakovic will probably have to raise the slider to win a second medal in the big pool of Foro Italico tonight (7:53 p.m.). He is capable of it: his Swiss record is 3’45”82, and his best time of the year is 3’46”16. But it won’t all depend on his performance.
Crowned in Rome in the 100m – with a new world record – and in the 200m free – where he became the 3rd performer in history – David Popovici can scramble the cards and afford an improbable hat-trick. The 17-year-old Romanian entered this race without a reference time over 400m, and he achieved 3’47”99 without forcing, while swimming isolated in the slowest series…
ats/adav
