Vlad-Ștefan Stancu (Romanian pronunciation:[ˈvladʃteˈfanˈstaŋku]; born 13 August 2005) is a Romanian competitive swimmer. He is the Romanian record holder in the long course 1500-metre freestyle and long course and short course 800-metre freestyle. At the 2022 World Junior Championships, he won the silver medal in the 400-metre freestyle and bronze medals in the 800-metre freestyle and the 1500-metre freestyle. At the 2022 European Junior Swimming Championships, he won gold medals in the 1500-metre freestyle and 4×100-metre freestyle relay and silver medals in the 400-metre freestyle and 800-metre freestyle.
Background
Stancu attended Emil Racoviță National College in Bucharest for high school.[2] He trains with and competes for the swim club with CSA Steaua București (CSA Steaua).[1]
In April 2022, at the Multinations Junior Swimming Meet held in Kranj, Slovenia, Stancu helped set a new Romanian record in the 4×200-metre freestyle relay at 16 years of age with a final time of 7:28.43, splitting a 1:53.23 for the second leg of the relay.[5]
At the 2022 European Junior Swimming Championships, held in Otopeni in early July, Stancu won his first medal on day one as part of the 4×100-metre freestyle relay, swimming the second leg of the relay in a time of 51.11 seconds in the final to contribute to the gold medal-winning time of 3:18.93.[6][7] Two days later, he won the gold medal in the 1500-metre freestyle with a Romanian record time of 15:05.47, breaking the former record established at the 2004 Summer Olympics by Dragoș Coman with a time of 15:06.33.[1][6] Another two days after that, he set a new Romanian record in the 800-metre freestyle and won the silver medal with a time of 7:54.02.[6][8] The morning of the sixth and final day, he ranked fourth in the preliminaries of the 400-metre freestyle, qualifying for the evening final with a time of 3:54.96.[9][10][11] In the final, he tied Krzysztof Chmielewski of Poland for the silver medal with a time of 3:50.61, finishing 2.47 seconds behind gold medalist in the event Lorenzo Galossi of Italy.[12][13][14][15] Following his performances, Stancu announced his intent to compete at the 2022 World Junior Swimming Championships.[16]
Day one of the 2022 FINA World Junior Swimming Championships, held starting 30 August in Lima, Peru, Stancu ranked third in the preliminary heats of the 400-metre freestyle with a time of 3:51.43 and qualified for the final.[17][18][19][20] In the final later the same day, he won the first medal for Romania at the Championships, a silver medal with a personal best time of 3:48.38, which was just 0.11 seconds behind gold medalist Stephan Steverink of Brazil.[21][22][23][24] Two days later, he won his second medal of the Championships, a bronze medal in the 800-metre freestyle, finishing in a time of 7:56.14.[25][26][27] The sixth and final day, he won the bronze medal in the 1500-metre freestyle with a time of 15:17.97.[28][29]
2022 Romanian Short Course Championships
In November, at the 2022 Romanian Short Course Championships held in Otopeni, Stancu set a new Romanian record of 4:12.77 in the final of the 400-metre individual medley to win the gold medal.[30] The following day, he lowered his Romanian record in the 800-metre freestyle to a 7:44.97, achieving the time en route to a gold medal-win in the 1500-metre freestyle with a personal best time of 14:41.14 that was over 51 seconds faster than the second-place finisher.[31][32] On the third day, he finished 0.76 seconds behind the first-place finisher in the 400-metre freestyle to win a silver medal with a personal best time of 3:43.76.[33]
2023
At 17 years of age at the 2023 Romanian Championships in April in Otopeni, Stancu won the senior and youth national titles in the 800-metre freestyle with a time of 7:58.38 on day one.[34][35] The third day, 6 April, he won the senior and youth national titles in the 200-metre butterfly with a 2:01.03 before winning the youth national title and senior silver medal in the 400-metre freestyle with a time of 3:52.45.[35][36] Day five of five, he won the senior and youth national titles in the 1500-metre freestyle in a time of 15:22.45 and won a youth national title in the 4×100-metre medley relay, helping achieve a time of 3:54.35 by swimming the butterfly leg of the relay.[35] In June, he won five gold medals in individual events at the 2023 Romanian Cup, one each in the 400-metre freestyle, 800-metre freestyle, 1500-metre freestyle, 200-metre butterfly, and the 400-metre individual medley, where he set a new Romanian record with his time of 4:18.70 that broke the former mark of 4:19.72 by Cezar Bădiță from 2003.[37]
Legend: NR – Romanian record; Records not set in finals: h – heat;sf – semifinal;r – relay 1st leg;rh – relay heat 1st leg;b – B final;† – en route to final mark;tt – time trial
Legend: NR – Romanian record; Records not set in finals: h – heat;sf – semifinal;r – relay 1st leg;rh – relay heat 1st leg;b – B final;† – en route to final mark;tt – time trial