NCAA Qualifier and 2025 ACC Champion Michel Arkhangelskiy of Florida State has entered the NCAA transfer portal. Arkhangelskiy just finished his sophomore season.
Arkhangelskiy arrived on campus in fall 2024 and adjusted quickly to short course yards. He arrived from France where he has been living as a political refugee since 2009.
At his first ACC Championships, Arkhangelskiy swam to an individual title in the 100 backstroke with a 44.49. He also swam to a runner up finish in the 100 fly with a 44.36. He was the leading scorer for Florida State with 80 individual points at the 2025 ACC Championships. He also split a 43.33 100 fly on the team’s 400 medley relay.
He went on to help Florida State to an 18th place finish at the 2025 NCAA Championships, scoring four individual points in the process. He finaled in both the 100 back and 100 fly as he was 14th in the 100 fly (44.77) and 16th in the 100 back (45.05). He was off his times from ACCs in both events. He also swam on four relays for Florida State, including their 200 medley relay that finished 7th.
This past year, Arkhangelskiy was 4th in the 100 fly at the ACC Championships in a 44.79 and was 19th in prelims of the 100 back and did not swim in the final. He also was 27th in the 100 free.
He went on to swim at the 2026 NCAA Championships finishing 40th in the 100 fly and 41st in the 100 free. He also swam on Florida State’s 200 medley relay that was 15th and the 200 free relay that was 18th. The Florida State men finished 25th.
Arkhangelskiy’s Best SCY Times Are:
- 100 back: 44.49 (2025 ACCs)
- 100 fly: 44.36 (2025 ACCs)
- 50 free: 18.82 (2025 NCAAs)
- 100 free: 41.68 (2025 ACCs)
Arkhangelskiy most recently announced he will represent Bahrain at the international level.
He is the latest NCAA qualifier to enter the portal on the men’s side. The men’s side has had numerous big names enter the portal including David Johnston who is transferring from Texas to Florida. Other NCAA scorers include Julian Koch (Pitt), Luka Mladenovic (Michigan), Nick Simmons (Tennessee), Jacob Johnson (Minnesota), and Abdalla Yousseff Nasr (Auburn).
Eichel committed to A&M
Perfect replacement for Hubi 😴
That’ll be Masiuk’s job
Masiuk has a long way to go in SC. Maybe he can get there but he is currently not strong UW.
I hope there’s someone at Texas who can help him with that
Kos wasn’t a world beater as a freshman. He still made NCAAs (and scored) unlike Masiuk, but the NCAA in 2023 was WAY slower than this year, so its hard to compare. Masiuk’s 100fly/100 back PBs from this year would’ve scored then, and would’ve been invited if not for the auto qualifiers
Where is the best French food in the USA where this dude can swim?
He seems to deserve a huge break with his history as refugee.
Tom Petty from Gainesville sang a dang fine “Refugee” with Stevie Nicks.
Best French food is probably New York or New Orleans
Tbh he’d probably do pretty well at LSU (I know it’s not in New Orleans)
I agree, and LSU has an amazing dining hall, the food selection and quality is incredible. I think it wouldn’t be a bad choice if he were to go there.
Baton Rouge and New Orleans could not be more different
Maybe LSU- New Orleans
Any big American city has really good French food since French food is sort of the foundation of Western fine dining.
New York City is the answer to almost any question of “where the best XYZ food is” because it’s so enormous and has so much diversity. Two of my favorite TikTokers are these kind of regular 20-something guys who are trying food from every country in the world without leaving NYC. It’s really kind of amazing and teaches you what a diversity of cuisine is available to you if you look a little harder.
I’m not sure someone who grew up in France would recognize most of New Orleans’ top “French” food as “French,” though for my personal tastes… Read more »
@Coleman Hodges could tell him where the best Crepes are FOR SURE!
Louisville could use the backstroke, and would fill in nicely on other relays. Wonder if they have any NIL?
French food is not crap and junk like most food served in the US, especially at the budget of a student. Contrary to most of what you say, the basics of French food is the QUALITY of the ingredients. Good luck with that around most US campuses.
And the last myth: Austrian food is way simpler than French and therefore easier to please an Austrian. They have about 3 national dishes and rest is fusion from Italian, Hungarian, Turkish, German and Bohemian cuisine. (The pastry, the best in the world, is another story)
If Koch and this guy show up at cal, watch out 😎
That would be just what the doctor ordered. I’m still sad about Teagan leaving.
Those two would plug some major holes for the men’s team.
I think Arkhangelskiy is considering Cal. Get the feeling it’s between Cal and Stanford for him.
I hope this wasn’t a polite way of telling me Koch is not 😭
I’m going off of the teams Michel follows on social media. Koch follows Pepperdine (for some reason), Pitt, and UVA. I thought he’d be headed to UVA, to be honest. Especially after all the UVA hype posts on kids they’ve landed. But after someone said he tried asking DeSorbo for NIL money and it sounded like it didn’t go too well, makes me think it’s still not decided.
Cal needs someone like Arkhangelskiy, with no Petty this coming year, Pugaard is the next fastest 100 backstroker at 45.7.
Him, Yamato, Pugaard, Battaglini for medley relays? Sheesh! Jordan Ragland is no joke in the sprint freestyles too. i think Cal will be back sooner rather than later. Baylor Stanton and Tim… Read more »
Looking over Baylor Stanton’s PBs, good gosh is he gonna be a star for Cal. He could be swimming 400 IM/100 back/200breast individually, be on their 800 free relay and their 50 backstroker. Like what? The versatility is absurd
lol DeSorbp doesn’t have NIL money to spend.
Dude barely has money for his own salary
From what I hear, Koch has 4 trips, none of which are to UVA.
It’s interesting that their men’s team doesn’t have NIL money to give out considering that their women’s team certainly does. I think it’s from one big booster in particular though, so maybe he is only willing to give out $$$ to the women’s side?
and which women do you think get NIL money at UVA?
NONE!
Depends what you mean. Curzan has a bunch of third-party NIL contracts, so does Grimes. All deals have to go through the collective, then to the clearinghouse.
I’m not sure they’re spending much in rev sharing money though. But all have full rides now because of the VAF endowments.
Someone said he reached out to UVA asking for 100k. Not sure if he visited them
Texas, ASU, IU, Cal?
Re: Teagan, same. V sad 😪
I’m still of the belief that even if Koch and Arkhangelskiy transfer to Cal (and Baylor Stanton is who we think he is capable of being), they’d still need another stud to compete for a top two finish at NCAAs as they’ve been so accustomed to doing, unless one of the underclassmen has a Mia West-like sophomore year progression. But I’m skeptical that both are transferring to Cal.
Even if they don’t get any transfers, I can see them being top 4 next year. ASU loses a ton and the 5th and 6th place teams were 40ish points in front of Cal this past year and Cal basically had a brand new roster this year at NCAAs. They get Baylor Stanton and Tim Wu (1;41 200 back 3;43 400 IM) and two guys coming in with 19.2s in the 50 free, one goes 42.2 in the 100 free and the other is 46 in the fly and back. That’s a pretty good class
His PB is 44.3 in the 100 fly, but his 43.3 ACC relay split shouldn’t go unmentioned. Def 43 mid potential
If I was a gambling man…:
55% ASU
25% UVA
15% Indiana
5% Michigan
If Todd can hear me … he would be a GREAT addition to their relays, this would give them absolutely everything they need except a breaststroker. But I also think it’s unlikely he heads to UVA.
I’m curious what is going into the decision making process for some of these guys cause they’re swimming well. Is it all money or truly want to train with faster people?
Curious about this too!
I think money.
I also say on X that the Pitt coach said that swimmers from other schools were talking to his and other swimmers to switch schools while on the pool deck at NCAA.
There is more to this story than is being made public. He was swimming well in November and then got slower. He was so slow at ACCs I thought he was sick. At NCAAs he didn’t swim one event and wasn’t in the 400 Med. Relay. Seemed checked out…………now he is looking for $$$$?????
BOY WTF
I miss the ISL (go dawgs) jinxed it.
Cal
:/
Thought it was cool to see Florida State re-insert themselves into the conversation
Nvm then!
Well, at least you know better now.