Andrei Minakov is a competitive swimmer who represents Russia internationally. He won a silver medal at the 2019 World Championships at the age of 18 in the 100 fly. On November 29, 2019, Minakov announced his verbal commitment to swim for Stanford in the fall of 2020.
College Swimming
After some serious will he/won’t he with the transfer portal, Minakov opted to stay at Stanford. Minakov’s decision to stay with the Cardinal came after there was speculation he was headed to join the reigning NCAA champions at Cal. That speculation was warranted as he had re-entered the transfer portal listed under Cal, indicating at one point he (likely) intended to go to Berkeley. He opted to redshirt his fall semester and swam some meets back home in Russia.
Minakov returned to collegiate competition in January against ASU. There, Minakov, more known as a sprinter, took on the 200 fly. Against the future NCAA Champion Ilya Kharun, Minakov took the race out fast, leading Kharun over the first 150. Minakov paid for his speed, coming home in 26.24 as Kharun flew past him for the win in a historic 1:37.93. Minakov still had a fantastic swim of his own, clocking a 1:38.63. The roles were reversed in the 100 fly, where Minakov touched in 44.16 to Kharun’s 44.72.
Against Arizona the next day, Kharun was solid, clocking a 42.17 100 free and a 1:32.19 200 free, both winning times, as well as a 19.29 50 free relay leadoff. Minakov had another great 200 fly against USC, clocking a 1:40.00 to destroy the Chmielewski twins.
Minakov seemed to be a full-fledged 200 flyer after contesting the race against rival Cal. There, he went up against another formidable flyer, Dare Roase, and wiped the floor with him. Compared to his earlier PB, Minakov was out a bit slower but was able to hold on in the last 50 with a 25.68 split as Rose, who had kept it close, faded back over 2 seconds. Minakov’s 1:38.61 was a new PB. Minakov also won the 100 fly with a 44.60 and had relay splits of 19.73 and 41.31 in the 50 fly and 100 free respectively.
At Pac-12s, Minakov swam a truncated schedule and seemed quite off. He swam a 1:33.88 200 free split on night 1 before posting a 19.37 50 free for 10th the next night. That same night, Minakov posted a 18.80 50 free relay split. Minakov just swam one more time, in the prelims of the 100 fly, clocking a 45.31.
At NCAAs, Minakov was hot and cold. On night 1, he clocked solid splits of 19.57 and 1:32.14 in the 50 fly and 200 free. He scratched the 50 free the next morning, opting to swim all 5 relays. On night 2, Minakov clocked a season-best 19.15 50 free leading off Stanford’s 9th-place 200 free relay.
Day 3 brought a shocker as Minakov missed the 100 fly finals entirely with a 45.11. He found redemption that night in the 400 medley relay, clocking a 43.92 100 fly split. Minakov had a half-decent 200 fly, clocking a 1:40.41 in prelims to qualify 9th, a seed he maintained in the finals with a 1:40.13.
International Competition
2018 Youth Olympic Games (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
Minakov won gold in the 100 fly (51.12), breaking the Russian record owned by Egor Kuimov (51.16).
2019 World Championships (Gwangju, South Korea)
Minakov earned a silver medal in the 100 fly, clocking a national record 50.83, besting the mark he set in the event semifinals (50.94). Minakov finished second behind American Caeleb Dressel (49.66).
Minakov was a member of the 400 medley relay team that set a national record (3:28.81) en route to a bronze medal. Minakov swam the third leg in 50.54. Evgeny Rylov (52.57), Kirill Prigoda (58.68) and Vlad Morozov (47.02) rounded out the lineup. The Russians finished third behind Great Britain and the United States.
2019 World Junior Championships (Budapest, Hungary)
Minakov started his championships in the 400 free relay, where he had a 47.82 to help Russia earn silver behind the USA.
On day 2, Minakov swam fly on Russia’s mixed 400 medley relay, splitting 51.66 to help Russia earn another silver behind the US.
On day 3, Minakov earned his first gold medal of the championships, touching first in the 100 fly with a time of 51.25. Later in the session, Minakov swam 2nd on Russia’s mixed 400 free relay, once again splitting a 48.21, helping Russia to its 3rd relay silver in as many days.
Minakov touched for 1st once again in the 100 free on the final day of competition, earning gold in a time of 48.73. He finished off his program in the 4×100 medley relay, where he helped power Russia to its first relay gold of the meet, splitting 50.93 on the butterfly leg.
2019 Swammy Awards
For his accomplishments at both the World and Junior World Championships, Minakov earned the Breakout Male Swimmer of the Year and the World Junior Male Swimmer of the Year Swammy Awards.
2020 Swammy Awards
Minakov had a record-breaking fall, downing a total of three world junior records, two in short course and one in long course.
Minakov’s first world junior record of the year came in the 50 fly when he hit a 23.05 at the long course Russian Championships in October. His swim knocked down Vladyslav Bukhov’s previous record of 23.14 from January 2020. The swim was the 4th fastest in the event of 2020 worldwide:
Top 5 Long Course 50 Butterfly Performances (2020)
- Oleg Kostin – 22.82
- Nicholas Santos – 22.95
- Szebasztian Szabo – 22.96
- Andrei Minakov – 23.05
- Andrii Govorov – 23.07
Two days later, Minakov took out Kyle Chalmers’ 100 freestyle world junior record by just 0.01 seconds, lowering it from a 47.58 to a 47.57. In a year where long course racing was scarce, Minakov’s 100 freestyle was actually the top time worldwide and the only sub-48 swim in the event:
Top 5 Long Course 100 Freestyle Performances (2020)
- Andrei Minkov – 47.57
- Nandor Nemeth – 48.08
- Alessandro Miressi – 48.15
- Vlad Morozov – 48.32
- Vlad Grinev – 48.33
Minakov’s third WJR of the year was in the short course version of the 50 fly. At the 2020 Russian Short Course Championships, Minkov swam under the FINA-set benchmark of 22.43 to set the first-ever world junior record in the event at 22.34. That swim for Minakov ranked him as #6 in the world in 2020:
Top 5 Short Course 50 Butterfly Performances (2020)
- Nicholas Santos – 21.78
- Szebasztian Szabo – 21.86
- Caeleb Dressel – 22.04
- Takeshi Kawamoto – 22.19
- Tom Shields – 22.32
- Andrei Minakov – 22.34
- Nyls Korstanje – 22.35
- Hryhory Pekarski – 22.40
For these performances, Minakov earned his 2nd straight Swammy Award for World Jr Male of the Year.
2021 European Championships (Budapest, Hungary)
Minakov took medals in the 100 free (bronze, 47.74), 400 free relay (gold) and 400 medley relay (silver).
