Record-breaker David Popovici into Euro freestyle final, Nicolo Martinenghi wins 100m breaststroke

swimming on Friday by easing into the 100 metres freestyle final at the European Swimming Championships with a new European record of 46.98 seconds, while world champion Nicolo Martinenghi won the 100m breaststroke. Teen sensation Popovici looked in fine form earlier on Friday when he easily won his heat and delighted fans by finishing over a second ahead of Italian Lorenzo Zazzeri. Only two other swimmers managed to dip under 48sec, Kristof Milak and Alessandro Miressi in the other semi, but both were some way off 17-year-old Romanian Popovici.

"It's a fine route to the final and a step towards the right direction. It feels normal for me to go step-by-step and keep improving my time," said Popovici. Popovici, who in June became the first man to complete the 100-200m freestyle double at the World Championships in nearly 50 years, will now compete in Saturday's final.

After Friday's display he will be hot favourite to continue what has been a golden summer in which he also won three European junior titles in his home town of Bucharest. Martinenghi was a double gold winner at the Budapest worlds and got the home crowd roaring in Rome with a time of 58.26sec in his final, beating countryman Federico Poggio by 0.72sec. Andrius Sidlauskas took the bronze for Lithuania.

"This victory means a lot to me. This season has been a very long one and I'm not in my best shape, but it was important to continue winning," Martinenghi said. The 23-year-old's win was one of four golds for Italy in Friday's evening session at the Foro Italico.