Romanian David Popovici was voted Europe’s best male swimmer in 2022 at the LEN Awards. The LEN voters favored him heavily while Hungary’s Kristof Milak topped the public polls.
Popovici gathered 56,16% of votes, being followed by Kristof Milak, Hungary with 22,71% of total votes, Thomas Ceccon, Italy – 13,79%, Leon Marchand, France – 4,77%, and Nicolo Martinenghi, Italy – 2,56%.
David Popovici’s 100m WR in Rome was the real headline in 2022 as he brought down one of the last shiny WRs from 2009 (Milak beat his own mark in the 200m fly and Italy’s Thomas Ceccon stunned many with his 100m back WR).
He is 2x World Champion (100m free, 200m free), 2x European Champion (100m free, with World Record, 200m free), 3x junior World champion, and 4x junior European champion.
The LEN Awards for Europe’s best aquatic athletes were announced in 2008 for the first time, based on the votes of the National Federations. The outcome of the public vote weight 30% in the overall results.
David Popovici was also named the best male swimmer of 2022 in the world by the specialized magazine Swimswam.com.
