Six other finals in fifth afternoon of the 47th European Junior Swimming Championships at Stadio del Nuoto in Rome.
David Popovici is the brightest star of the European Championships and makes the sky in Rome even brighter. The romanian 16-year-old keeps giving emotions without knowing any limit. After his success in the 100 freestyle with the Junior World record (47''30) and the best time of the season, David also got gold in 200 by 1'45''9, after swimming the Junior World record in the semifinals (1'45''26). This year, only south korean Soonwho Hwang swum the 200 freestyle better than Popovici: 1'44''96 on 15th May in a time trial, but the result has not yet been ratified by FINA. With Popovici on the podium were polish Mateusz Chowaniec, silver in 1'47''78, and bosnian Jovan Lekic, who got bronze in 1'48''16. Ten minutes earlier Popovici had qualified for tomorrow's 50 freestyle final with a best time of 22''75.
50 backstroke final was spectacular, with just three athletes on the podium. Gold was won by Carmen Weiler Sastre from Spain in 28''42, silver by Nina Stanisavljevic from Serbia in 28''58 and bronze by italian and gold medalist Erika Gaetani in 28''84.
Lot of excitement in 200 breaststroke with first and second separated by two hundredths. Lithuanian Aleksas Savickas won in 2'13''35, against the 2'13''37. Third place for ukrainian Maksym Tkachuk in 2'13''75.
Two Turks lead the 1500 freestyle. Merve Tuncel won with the European junior record in 15'55''23, which lowered the limit time of 16'02''29; silver went to Deniz Ertan in 16'14''26 and bronze to Paula Fernandez Otero from Spain in 16'19''92.
The afternoon schedule started with the butterfly final. Russian Daria Klepikova won in 26''14, setting the new C; silver was won by bosnian Lana Pudar in 26''29 and bronze by belgian Roos Vanotterdijk in 26''29.
Second gold medal for british Katie Shanahan. The Londoner, after winning 200 medley, was first in the 400 medley too in 2'13''13, beating russian Anastasiia Sorokina in 2'13''84 and hungarian Panna Ugrai in 2'14''37.

Semi-finals. Estonian Eneli Jefimova, silver in 200 breaststroke, swam the best time in 100 breaststroke by 1'07''56. In 200 butterfly the fastest was Russian Vadim Klimenishchev in 1'57''98, the only one among the semi-finalists to go below 1'58. In 200 backstroke the fastest ones were bulgarian Kaloyan Levterov in 1'59''50 and polish Laura Bernat in 2'11''72. The first in 100 butterfly was russian Anastasiia Markova in 58''97. Her teammate Daria Tatarinova was the leader in 50 freestyle, swimming the best time in 25''10.

Podiums of the fifth day

 Women's 50m butterfly
1. Daria Klepikova (Rus) 26''14 CR
2. Lana Pudar (Bih) 26''29
3. Roos Vanotterdijk (Bel) 26''55

Women's 200m medley
1. Katie Shanahan (Gbr) 2'13''13
2. Anastasiia Sorokina (Rus) 2'13''84
3. Panna Ugrai (Hun) 2'14'37

Men's 200m freestyle
1. David Popovici (Rou) 1'45''95
2. Mateusz Chowaniec (Pol) 1'47''78
3. Jovan Lekic (Bih) 1'48''46

Women's 50m backstroke
1. Carmen Weiler Sastre (Esp) 28''42
2. Nina Stanisavljevic (Srb) 28''58
3. Erika Gaetani (Ita) 28''84

Men's 200m breaststroke
1. Aleksas Savickas (Ltu) 2'13''35
2. Dmitrii Askhabov (Rus) 2'13''37
3. Maksym Tkachuk (Ukr) 2'13''75

Women's 1500m freestyle
1. Merve Tuncel (Tur) 15'55''23 ER-CR
2. Deniz Ertan (Tur) 16'14''26
3. Paula Fernandez Otero (Esp) 16'19''92

Women's 4x100m freestyle
1. Russia 3'40"10 CR
Daria Tatarinova 55"29, Daria Trofimova 54"61, Aleksandra Kurilkina 55"67, Daria Klepikova 54"53
2. Great Britain 3'42"27
Eva Okaro 55"36, Harriet Rogers 56"42, Evelyn Davis 55"85, Tamryn Van Selm 54"64
3. Hungary 3'43"86
Nikoletta Padar 56"12, Panna Ugrai 55"60, Dora Molnar 56"20, Reka Nyiradi 55"94

Credit Photo Andrea Masini / DBM