Podcast in English
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2025 All Rights Reserved

Romanian swimmer David Popovici voted Best Athlete in the Balkans, Bulgaria's Vezenkov placed 8th

David Popovici in Lima, Peru
Photo: David Popovici/Facebook

The 18-year-old Romanian swimmer David Popovici is the winner of the 49th edition of BTA's "Best Athletes of the Balkans" survey for 2022. The only Bulgarian in the top 10 - the basketball player Alexander Vezenkov - was ranked 8th.

Popovici won the world and European titles in the men's 100m and 200m freestyle, while also setting a new world record in the 100m freestyle. He added a total of ten gold medals from the World and European Junior Championships. This week he was also named the #1 swimmer in Europe for the season.

The national agencies of the countries of the region participated in the traditional survey - BTA (Bulgaria), ANA-MPA (Greece), AGERPRESS (Romania), Anadolu Agency (Turkey), Tanjug (Serbia), MINA (Montenegro), MIA (North Macedonia), HINA (Croatia), FENA (Bosnia and Herzegovina) and ATA (Albania).



Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.

More from category

Bulgaria joins the European Week of Sport

From 23 to 30 September, all EU member states will take part in the European Week of Sport. To mark the occasion, a two-day sports fair will be held at the Asics Arena in Sofia. Around 35 sports federations are expected to join the event, according to an..

published on 9/23/25 7:35 AM

Bulgaria reaches quarter-finals of the Volleyball World Championship

The Bulgarian men’s national volleyball team defeated Portugal 3-0 (25-19, 25-23, 25-13) to secure a place in the quarter-finals of the World Championship in the Philippines. This marks the first time since 2010 that Bulgaria has reached the top eight..

published on 9/22/25 1:27 PM

Yuliana Yaneva wins a silver medal at the 2025 World Wrestling Championships in Zagreb

Yuliana Yaneva won a silver medal in the 68 kg category at the 2025 World Wrestling Championships in Zagreb, Croatia. In the final, she lost 2:4 to Japan’s Ishii Ami. This is the first medal for the national wrestling team at the championship. Ahmed..

published on 9/19/25 9:04 AM