Andrei Minakov Will Return for Senior Season at Stanford

Braden Keith
by Braden Keith 15

September 14th, 2024 College, News, SEC

Stanford swimmer Andrei Minakov will return for his senior season with the Cardinal in what should be his final year of collegiate eligibility.

Minakov was the NCAA Champion in the 100 fly in his first season of competition and is the Stanford record holder in the 100 free (41.09), 200 free (1:31.49), 100 fly (43.71). and swam a leg of four school record holding relays.

At the 2024 NCAA Championships, Minakov scored 9 individual points via a 9th place finish in the 200 fly. He also swam on four Stanford relays, all of which placed in the top nine at NCAAs.

In the 100 fly, he finished 20th in 45.11 – about a second off his season of 44.16 that ranked him 5th in the NCAA last season overall. He also had the second-fastest 200 fly overall (1:38.61 – tied).

“I just want to take maximum out of college swimming for the last ride and have fun, show best times and contribute to the team’s success,” Minakov told SwimSwam of his reasons for returning. “Especially because Russian athletes are not allowed to participate anywhere.”

Russian athletes have been barred from competing under the Russian flag at most international competitions, including the Olympics, since the country’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. There have been pathways established for neutral participation, though those pathways have been used sparingly.

Minakov swam 50.86 at the Russian National Championships in 2024 in the 100 meter fly. That was his best time since going 50.83 at the 2019 World Championships – his lifetime best.

His return is big for Stanford, which placed 8th at last year’s NCAA Championships. He was one of only four Stanford athletes who scored individually at NCAAs last season, in addition to a good performance from their relays.

Stanford’s NCAA Scorers Last Season

Now all four return: Ryan and Polonsky are both seniors, like Minakov, while McFadden, a member of the American World Championships team in 2023, is a sophomore. They also only lost two relay legs: brothers Rex Maurer (transfer to Texas) and Luke Maurer (transfer to swim for his mom Lea at USC).

Minakov redshirted what would have been his freshman year at Stanford, 2020-2021, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and while training for the postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Prior to last season, he entered the NCAA Transfer Portal before ultimately deciding to stay at Stanford.

Minakov is studying Science in Technology and Society and is still working on finishing up his undergraduate studies.

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Hawaiian Reeves
21 days ago

The major is “Science, Technology, and Society” with the Oxford comma included.

samulih
Reply to  Hawaiian Reeves
21 days ago

seems like interesting field to study.

Guy
Reply to  samulih
21 days ago

he’s a swim major…

Khase Calisz
21 days ago

Waiting for the incoming “Russians shouldn’t be allowed to compete” comments

Justin Pollard
21 days ago

There’s still a chance for Minakov to transfer to Cal and go some best times at NCAAs when it matters. Do what’s best for you, Andrei! You can always go back to Stanford for business school if you want to.

Andrew
Reply to  Justin Pollard
21 days ago

Cal is a cesspool of a university, and how exactly did their team do at the US trials and the Olympics?

They were seeded 1-3 in 2 back and favored to sweep the podium (at least according to their delusional fanbase) and left with exactly 0 medals in that event

Queens
22 days ago

Yaaass.
Coaches Alec Scott, Mike Stephens, and Dan Schemell will help continue to help him reach his athletic and academic goals of crushing dual meet and pool records and then choking at NCAA and International meets 🫰🏼👍🏼💪🏼

Here Comes Lezak
22 days ago

I feel like some of these dudes have been in college for like ten years at this point

Diehard
Reply to  Here Comes Lezak
22 days ago

Miami QB is on 9th year! Not kidding!

BR32
22 days ago

I need a LCM 400 Medley relay Rylov on back, Somov breast, Minakov fly, and Kolesnikov free.

That would have gone crazy at the Olympics

RealCrocker5040
Reply to  BR32
22 days ago

Put 17 year old Lifincev on back

He went 52.08 this year

Doe
Reply to  BR32
21 days ago

Best times/splits add up equals 3:28.03 all time, totally ignoring what they could go right now.

BR32
Reply to  Doe
21 days ago

That’s FAST too bad we’ll never get to see it in competition

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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