#1/#16 ARIZONA STATE @ #8/#6 STANFORD
- January 19, 2024
- Avery Aquatic Center
- Stanford, California
- SCY (25 yards)
- Live Results
- Results also available on Meet Mobile: “Arizona State @ Stanford”
- Team Scores
- Women: Stanford (191.5 points) – ASU (98.5 points)
- Men: ASU (156.5 points) – Stanford (115.5 points)
NCAA Champion Andrei Minakov made a big splash this weekend for the Stanford Cardinal against ASU, clocking 44.1 in the 100 fly (1st) and 1:38.6 in the 200 fly (2nd) before anchoring the 400 free relay to a come-from-behind victory. Minakov delves into his fall, where he was training in his home of Kazan, as well as his choice to return to Stanford and compete for then this spring.
Great interview. His 200 fly swim is massively underrated. The Stanford programs on both sides are CRUSHING it this year. Go Card!
Minakov is pure class and it’s unfortunate the Russia/Ukraine situation puts him in (and all other Russian athletes that don’t support the war for that matter). I think he goes for 1/2 fly and then tries the dreadful 1 free/2 fly double on the last day.
PS, I called him washed 2 weeks ago and he proved me wrong with his 2 fly. I’m impressed by his form since he wasn’t racing SCY last semester (even though he was training).
You think he would go for 1/2 fly and 1 free?
I’m guessing 1/2 fly and 50 free on day 2.
Maybe all 5 relays?
Worked well for Stanford when he did 5 relays two years ago, the year he won the 100 fly.
Don’t think he particularly wants to race the 50 though, the team might get more points in total with him not having an individual event on day 2, concentrating on his efforts in 1/2 fly and 5 relays.
There’s almost no point of Minakov swimming the 50 free especially considering they could use him in all 5 relays
He was racing a lot of SCM in Russia though, so it definitely helped with his underwater, which was notable in his performances this week.
In another interview, he said he has been training with the Mid-D group at Stanford as well, and he swam the 400 Free SCM in December in Russia. That’s maybe why he had such big improvements in the 200 fly.
Also, it sounds like he will not be applying for the neutral athlete status to swim in Paris.
The requirement for that means he has to denounce Russia’s war in Ukraine and the government.
Unless he can get an American green card or keep depending on a student visa and live out of Russia full time it’s too risky. He also can risk not being able to safely return to Russia just to spend time with him family.
For context back in the USSR days stuff like that on the low end could land you in a mental hospital, and high end prison.
It does not mean he has to overtly denounce Russia’s war in Ukraine or the government.
This is all the neutrality rule says about athletes’ stance:
It’s a “neutrality” position not an “anti-Russia” position. While I’m sure some in Russia will see it as an anti-Russia thing, nobody has to directly denounce anything to be a neutral athlete. They just have to ‘not directly or publicly support it.’… Read more »
I mean Ivan Girev has been approved for neutral status, and he seems to be still living in Russia. I guess the Russian officials are secretly allowing them to do so, and will not seriously punish them. It looks like it will be the decision of individual Russian athletes whether they want to go to the Olympics without a flag. For Minakov, that is a major reason why he is probably not going to apply for it.
Russia probably didn’t want to submit Minakov and prioritize the swimmers who live in the motherland.
Minakov gave quite a few interviews recently and pledged his allegiance to Russia ( https://youtu.be/6E6mw6ynPR4?t=487 ). He doesn’t plan to stay in US. If he decides to participate in neutral status, he’ll lose many perks from Russian state down the road.
Please fix: Video is labeled private and cannot be played at 5:40 MST
It is on YouTube and works
Sorry about that, I’m not used to being on PST and got scheduled times mixed up. Should be public now.
Entertaining to hear YOU interviewed during the ASU @ Cal first diving break, Coleman. Must feel a little inside-out and backward. You did well, even gently correcting a mistake (a time) by the interviewer. Good work.