Robert Badea Easily Claims 200 Butterfly Crown at Romanian Championships
Coming off a national record in the 200-meter individual medley on Thursday, Robert Badea was the class of the field in the 200 butterfly during Friday’s evening action at the Romanian Championships. Badea covered his four laps in 1:57.25, which supplied a four-second triumph over runnerup Rares Rosu (2:01.84).
Badea took immediate control of the race, building a half-second lead down the first length. That advantage remained at the midway point of the race before Badea pulled away over the closing 100 meters. Splits of 30.14 and 30.51 enabled Badea to claim his massive margin. The Romanian is also the national record holder in the 400 individual medley and is gearing up for this summer’s European Championships in Paris.
The 50 breaststroke titles went to Danis Volontir in 27.75 and Daria Asaftei in 32.56. Meanwhile, Eliza Diamandescu was victorious in the women’s 200 butterfly, going 2:16.72. Diana Stiger took top honors in the women’s 400 freestyle behind a swim of 4:16.34, while Andrei Proca won the men’s 400 freestyle in 3:51.05.
On Saturday, reigning world champion David Popovici will be back in action, racing the 100 freestyle. Popovici has already claimed titles at the Romanian Champs in the 50 freestyle and 200 freestyle.
