Athlete of the week
Constantin Popovici, winner in the high-diving world circuit
Eugen Nasta, 02.07.2024, 13:45
The Romanian swimmer Constantin Popovici this past Sunday won the high-diving competition held in Italy’s Polignano a Mare. Coach Adrian Gavriliu’s trainee thus won his second title as part of the Red Bull Clff Diving 2024 world circuit.
Reason enough for Radio Romania International to designate Constantin Popovici the Athlete of the week.
In Italy, Constantin Popovici succeeded 418. 65 points all told. With 25 hundredths of a second, the runner-up swimmer was the defending world circuit leader, the American James Lichtenstein. We recall Popovici also defeated Lichtenstein in the Red Bull Cliff Diving 2024 world circuit’s first stage, held in May in Athens. The American has not won any stage of the circuit just as yet. Lichenstein also came in second in June, in Boston, a stage where Popovici failed to step onto a step of the podium.
The world circuit’s upcoming stage will be held on July 20 in Northern Ireland.
Constantin Popovici was born on October 2nd, 1988 in Bucharest. At the Bejing Olympics in 2008 Popovici represented Romania in diving, coming in 23rd in the 10-meter platform event. Constantin Popovici retired from competition, then he came back, focusing on high-diving. In 2019 Constantin Popovici was the first Romanian to have won a stage as part of the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series circuit.
In 2022, Popovici became a European champion in Rome. In 2023 Constantin Popovici compelled recognition at the World Championships held in Japan’s Fukukoa. We recall back then Popovici’s runner-up swimmer was another Romanian, Cătălin Preda. Early in 2024 Popovici also became the new Red Bull Cliff Diving champion, having won the las stage of the 2023 season held in New Zealand. 35-year-old Popovici was designated, by The International Swimming Federation, World Aquatics, the year 2023’s best high-diving swimmer.
