NCAA Champion Andrei Minakov Enters the NCAA Transfer Portal

NCAA Champion swimmer Andrei Minakov has become the biggest name to enter the NCAA Transfer Portal so far this offseason. The current Stanford swimmer entered the portal on Tuesday with a “do not contact” notation, meaning that he does not want NCAA programs to initiate contact with him. He has two seasons of NCAA eligibility remaining.

Minakov began his academic career at Stanford during the 2020-2021 season, albeit studying remotely from his native Russia. Since then, he has swum two seasons for Stanford, which includes a redshirt freshman year that concluded in an NCAA title in the 100 fly and a new Georgia Tech Pool Record (43.71).

He concluded that season with 8 school records, including four in relays, and individual marks in the 50, 100, and 200 frees, plus the 100 fly.

He was also the Pac-12 Champion in the 100 fly, 200 medley relay, and 400 medley relay, and won the maximum seven All-America awards.

As a sophomore, he got a late start to the season, spending much of the fall semester at home competing in Russian Championship events. He rejoined the Cardinal varsity in January, swimming the team’s last four dual meets and the Pac-12 and NCAA Championships.

He repeated as the conference champion in the 100 fly and shaved .01 seconds off his best time for 3rd in the 50 free.

His NCAA meet wasn’t as good as his freshman year, however. He swam just two individual events, placing 3rd in the 100 fly and 34th in the 100 free.

He then returned home to compete at the Russian Championships, where he finished 2nd in the 100 free (48.23) and 100 fly (51.23).

Minakov is a Tokyo 2020 Olympian who has won numerous international medals for Russia. That includes

• 6 gold and 1 silver at the 2018 Youth Olympics;
• 4 gold and 11 total medals at the 2017 and 2019 World Junior Championships;
• 9 gold and 13 total medals at the 2018 and 2019 European Junior Championships;
• a gold and 3 total medals at the European Long Course Championships;
• 2 gold and 6 total medals at the 2021 World Short Course Championships; and
• 3 medals at the 2019 Long Course World Championships when he was only 17, including individual silver in the 100 fly.

Minakov announced his commitment to Stanford in late 2019, shortly after current head coach Dan Schemmel was put in charge of the team.

Minakov spent some time in high school training with the Terrapins Swim Team in California which included competing at multiple Junior National Championships, the 2015 USA Swimming Futures Championships, and several other higher-profile American club meets.

Minakov’s current major is Science, Technology & Society.

Minakov’s Best Times in All 3 Courses

The Stanford men finished 8th at the 2023 NCAA Championships. During Dan Schemmel’s tenure as head coach, they were 7th in 2022 and 14th in 2021, all as compared to 15th in 2019, the year before he arrived.

Entering the NCAA Transfer Portal does not require an athlete to transfer; rather, it allows them the freedom to talk to other programs about transferring. A Do Not Contact notation sometimes implies that the athlete has a transfer destination in mind already, but other times it can mean that they just have a limited set of programs that they are willing to talk to and are trying to limit their search.