High School (Valencia)
Coming out of high school, Popov was ranked #5 on SwimSwam’s Top 20 NCAA Recruits Class of 2017. On September 11, 2016, Popov announced her verbal commitment to swim for Tennessee.
Popov was also a NISCA All-American, Junior national team member, and Junior World qualifier.
2016 US Olympic Trials
At the 2016 Olympic Trials, Popov swam three events: the 100m and 200m Breaststroke and the 200m IM. Her highest finish there was 29th in the 100 breast.
College (Tennessee)
2017-2018
At her first SEC Championships, Popov placed 28th in the 100 breast (1:02.39), 39th in the 200 breast (2:16.40) and 58th in the 50 free (23.98).
2018-2019
Popov made great strides in the pool her sophomore year. She was part of the SEC champion 200 medley relay team, which set a pool and SEC Championships meet record (1:34.26), and the gold medal 400 medley relay team, which set a championships meet record (3:28.43). Individually, she was the runnerup in the 100 breast (58.24), 5th in the 200 breast (2:07.87) and 25th in the 200 IM (1:58.88).
At the NCAA Championships, Popov was a member of the Vols’ national champion 200 medley relay, which set a pool record (1:34.10) and part of the 12th place 400 medley relay team. Individually, she placed 14th in the 100 breast (59.59) and 41st in the 200 breast (2:11.29).
