Swimming multi-medallist David Popovici participated on Sunday together with his coach Adrian Radulescu, and his training mate Andrei Enache in a relay race as part of the Atlantisman open water competition, with the team placing 2nd in the open classification.

The 3x500 meter relay closed the Black Sea swimming competition hosted by the Jupiter resort - Constanta County.

'We did this relay race in the idea that it could be a lot of fun. This was an old idea of mine, to team up with my coach and with David for a relay race, and I think it was fun for all three of us,' said Andeei Enache, who also won the men's 10km open water event of the current edition of Atlantisman.

David Popovici opined the race in the Black Sea was quite tough, and challenged up-and-rising athletes to overtake him 'slowly'.

'In the first half of the race, there were some huge waves. I'm used to waves coming only from the nearby lanes, but they don't compare to the waves of the sea. I got pretty tired, but it was a nice experience, because we were together, we did something different together, and I'd like to come again. I want us to see each other again in the coming years and have as many competitors as possible. I want us to meet at training sessions, in competitions and even for you to overtake me. It's a challenge. Don't rush! Let me stay around a little longer. You can do it, and I want us to race each other,' David Popovici said at the end of the competition.

The winners of the relay race of the second edition of Atlantisman were a trio registered with the Constanta Municipal Sports Club - Andrei Iaschiu, Mateen Sediq and Luca Boldura.

Andrei Iaschiu also took third place on Saturday in the 10-kilometer race, and placed second in the 2-kilometer swim.

In the women's competition, the 10-kilometer marathon was won by Erika Fortu from the Ploiesti Municipal Sports Club.

One of the relay events also saw the organizer, the president of the Romanian Ice Swimming and Open Water Association, Paul Georgescu, hitting the waters.

'The hardest thing is to organize such a competition, but I had an entire team by my side whom I would like to thank. This year we had nearly 250 participants, almost 100 more than last year, and I am glad that this competition is growing. I invested in it my experience with previous international open water swimming competitions, but it is also a project that I want to develop, to bring as many good swimmers from other countries as possible, because that way the value of our athletes will also increase,' said Paul Georgescu.

Romania has several open water competitions both in mountain regions and in the Black Sea; Atlantisman is considered one of the most difficult, due to the changing sea currents, but also due to the highly challenging 10-kilometer race. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Luisiana Bigea; EN - writing by: Simona Klodnischi)