World Aquatics Championships 2023: Men's 100m freestyle featuring David Popovici - Preview and full schedule
World record holder Popovici looks to rebound from a shock fourth-place 200m free finish in his pet 100m event.
Swimming
David Popovici will attempt to put a shock 200m result behind him when the men's 100m freestyle swimming event begins at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, tomorrow (Wednesday 26 July).
The Romanian world record holder in the 100m was beaten out of the podium places in Tuesday's 200m final as Great Britain's Matt Richards and Tom Dean and Republic of Korea's Hwang Sun-woo all finished ahead of him.
Popovici will face another stiff test in the shorter distance, even without the man who would be his biggest threat Caeleb Dressel, who did not qualify for Team USA. The Romanian may still only be 18, but a whole host of young pretenders to his crown – as well as the experience of Australian Kyle Chalmers – stand in his way.
Preview of 2023 World Championships men's 100m free
Popovici may be the favourite, but even in the absence of Dressel he is likely to be part of one of the strongest finals fields in men's 100m freestyle history.
The top 16 on time from across the 12 heats will qualify for the semi-finals, with the top eight from the two semis making Thursday's final.
In his heat alone – the Romanian has been drawn in the 12th and last heat – he faces France's Maxime Grousset, who won silver behind him at the 2022 Worlds, as well as Hwang.
Other names who would be expected to make the cut include the new Asian record holder and fastest man this year, 18-year-old Chinese swimmer Pan Zhanle; last year's world bronze medallist Josh Liendo Edwards; Chalmers, the Rio 2016 Olympic champion; Richards, who is seventh on the season's best times list; and Italy's Alessandro Miressi, whose 47.54 time leading off the Italian relay team on Sunday was the third-fastest men's 100m of the year.
Watch out, too, for Brazil's Guilherme Caribé Santos, who had a rolling 46.76 split in that men's 4x100m free relay final – second to only Chalmers.
Men's 100m freestyle - 2023 World Aquatics Championships schedule
Times are listed in Japan Standard Time (UTC +9 hours)
Wednesday 26 July 2023
- 10:47–11:15 Heats
- 20:26–20:35 Semi-finals
Thursday 27 July 2023
- 20:21 Final
How to watch men's 100m freestyle live at 2023 World Aquatics Championships
The following broadcasters (TV and online streaming) will show the 2023 World Championships:
- African broadcasters
- Americas broadcasters (including in USA and Canada)
- Asian broadcasters
- Australia: Nine Network
- Europe: National broadcasters and All Aquatics
- Everywhere else: On World Aquatics' online Recast streaming channel