Andrey Minakov
Andrey Dmitriyevich Minakov is a Russian swimmer and Olympian. He is the Russian record holder in the long course 100 metre butterfly. He is a former world junior record holder in the long course and short course 50 metre butterfly and long course 100 metre freestyle. At the 2019 World Aquatics Championships, he won silver medals in the 100 metre butterfly and 4×100 metre freestyle relay, and a bronze medal in the 4×100 metre medley relay. In 2021, at the 2020 Summer Olympics, he placed fourth in the 100 metre butterfly, fourth in the 4×100 metre medley relay, seventh in the 4×100 metre freestyle relay, and tenth in the 100 metre freestyle. He also won two gold medals, one silver medal, and three bronze medals at the 2021 World Short Course Championships. In 2022, he won the NCAA title in the 100 yard butterfly.
Background
Minakov was raised in Saint Petersburg, Russia, though later in his youth he began splitting his time between Russia and California, training in the United States during the summer months each year. Collegiately, he started attending Stanford University in 2020, where he started competing as part of the Stanford Cardinal swim team in the fall of 2021, following a year of being redshirted. The week Minakov announced his commitment to swimming for Stanford, the week of 3 December 2019, he ranked number one for "The Week That Was" honour from Swimming World.In 2023, Minakov changed his region of representation for Russian competitions to the Republic of Tatarstan.
2018–2019
2018 Summer Youth Olympics
When he was 16 years old, Minakov competed at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires, Argentina, winning six gold medals and one silver medal. Minakov set a new national record of 51.12 seconds in the 100 metre butterfly and won the gold medal, touching ahead of silver medalist in the event Kristóf Milák of Hungary. In addition to the national record, Minakov helped set a new world junior record of 3:35.17 in the final of the 4×100 metre medley relay, swimming the butterfly leg of the relay and splitting a time of 51.14 seconds. He won a gold medal in the 4×100 metre mixed freestyle relay in 3:28.50, splitting a 49.60 for the second leg of the relay in the final. In the 4×100 metre freestyle relay Minakov anchored the relay in 48.93 seconds, contributing to the final time of 3:18.11 with Kliment Kolesnikov, Daniil Markov, and Vladislav Gerasimenko.For the 50 metre butterfly, Minakov won the gold medal with a time of 23.62 seconds, finishing 0.01 seconds ahead of Daniil Markov and Tomoe Hvas who tied for the silver medal. In the final of the 100 metre freestyle Minakov won the gold medal, finishing less than two tenths of a second ahead of the silver and bronze medalists in the event with a time of 49.23 seconds. He split a 51.63 for the butterfly leg of the 4×100 metre mixed medley relay to help earn the silver medal in a time of 3:51.46 with Polina Egorova , Anastasia Makarova , and Kliment Kolesnikov .
2019 World Championships
In July 2019 at the 2019 World Aquatics Championships in Gwangju, South Korea, Minakov won two silver medals and one bronze medal. In the 100 metre butterfly, Minakov set a new national record for Russia in the semifinals with a time 50.94, advanced to the final ranked second overall, and became the first Russian in history to swim the race in less than 51 seconds. The following day, during the final of the 100 metre butterfly, Minakov won the silver medal in a national record time of 50.83 seconds, touching the wall after first-place finisher Caeleb Dressel of the United States and before third-place finisher Chad le Clos of South Africa. Minakov also won a silver medal in the 4×100 metre freestyle relay, swimming in the prelims heats, and helped win a bronze medal and set a new national record in the 4×100 metre medley relay at 3:28.81 with his relay teammates Evgeny Rylov , Kirill Prigoda , and Vladimir Morozov , splitting a 50.54 for the butterfly leg of the relay.2019 World Junior Championships
As part of the 4×100 metre medley relay at the 2019 World Junior Championships in Budapest, Hungary in August 2019, Minakov helped win the gold medal and break the world junior record he helped set in the event in 2018, swimming the butterfly leg of the relay in 50.93 seconds and contributing to the new record time of 3:33.19. He also won a gold medal in the 100 metre freestyle with a 48.73, a silver medal in the 50 metre butterfly with a 23.39, a gold medal in the 100 metre butterfly in 51.25 seconds, a silver medal in the 4×100 metre freestyle relay at 3:16.26, a silver medal in the 4×100 metre mixed freestyle relay with a 3:27.72, and contributed to winning the silver medal in the 4×100 metre mixed medley relay with a final time of 3:48.06. For his accomplishments, Minakov was named as one of two "Swimmer of the Championships" competitors along with Lani Pallister of Australia.2020–2022: Redshirt and bans
2020 Russian Championships
At the 2020 Russian National Championships held in at the Palace of Water Sports in Kazan in October and conducted in long course metres, Minakov swam a personal best time of 47.57 seconds in the 100 metre freestyle and set a new world junior record in the event, breaking the former record of 47.58 seconds set by Kyle Chalmers of Australia when he won the gold medal in the event at the 2016 Summer Olympics. Earlier in the championships, he set a new world junior record in the semifinals of the 50 metre butterfly with a time of 23.05 seconds.2020–2021 Collegiate season: Redshirt
For the 2020 to 2021 collegiate season, starting in the autumn of 2020 and ending in the spring of 2021, Minakov was redshirted by the Stanford Cardinal, and as such, chose to remain living in Russia, take classes online, and train in his home country. In December 2020, at the Russian National Championships conducted in short course metres, Minakov established a new world junior record in the short course 50 metre butterfly with a time of 22.34 seconds. One day earlier, day four of six of the Championships on 17 December, the Court of Arbitration for Sport announced that Russians, including Minakov, were banned from competing at Olympic Games nor World Championships in any sport, including swimming, using the name of their country, their national anthem, nor their flag for two full years.2020 European Championships
In the final of the 4×100 metre freestyle relay at the 2020 European Aquatics Championships, held at Danube Arena in Budapest, Hungary in May 2021, Minakov led-off the relay with a time of 48.18 seconds to help earn the gold medal in the event with a Championships record time of 3:10.41. For the 100 metre freestyle, Minakov won the bronze medal with a time of 47.74 seconds, finishing 0.37 seconds after gold medalist and fellow Russian Kliment Kolesnikov and 0.29 seconds after silver medalist Alessandro Miressi of Italy. Minakov won his third medal of the Championships in the 4×100 metre medley relay where he split a 47.41 for the freestyle leg of the relay in the final to contribute to the final time of 3:29.50 and help win the silver medal.2020 Summer Olympics
For those Russians who wanted compete at the 2020 Olympic Games, the International Olympic Committee forced them, including Minakov, to compete using the name Russian Olympic Committee, no flag, uniforms of their design, and a song of their choice/approval instead of the national anthem, with the decision stemming from the two year Court of Arbitration for Sport ban lasting December 2020 to December 2022. At the 2020 Summer Olympics itself, which took place in Tokyo, Japan in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Minakov placed 4th in the 100 metre butterfly with a time of 50.88 seconds. He also placed 4th swimming the butterfly leg of the 4×100 metre medley relay splitting a time of 50.31, 10th in the 100 metre freestyle where he swam a time of 48.03 seconds in the semifinals, and 7th in the 4×100 metre freestyle relay splitting a 47.71 for the lead-off leg of the relay.2021–2022 Collegiate season beginnings
Competing in his first collegiate season for Stanford University, Minakov improved his best time in the 50 yard freestyle by approximately six-tenths of a second on the first day of competition, 18 November, with a time of 19.13 seconds in the prelims at the 2021 North Carolina State Fall Invitational in Greensboro, North Carolina, United States. In the final of the 50 yard freestyle, Minakov tied for second-place with his time of 19.20 seconds. The second day of competition, Minakov set a new personal best time in the 100 yard butterfly at 44.78 seconds, which won him first place. The morning of the third day of competition, Minakov swam a personal best time of 42.49 seconds in the 100 yard freestyle in the prelims heats. In the evening, Minoakov won the event, lowering his time in the race to 41.89 seconds.2021 World Short Course Championships
Minakov was announced to the team Russia roster on 2 December for the 2021 World Short Course Championships in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Due to the ongoing ban on Russian representation at World Championships by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the event organizer, FINA forced him and all other Russians at the Championships to compete using the name Russian Swimming Federation.On 16 December, the first day of competition, Minakov split a 45.94 for the 4×100 metre freestyle relay, helping achieve a time of 3:06.02 with prelims relay teammates Aleksandr Shchegolev, Vladimir Morozov, and Daniil Markov, and advance the relay to the final ranked first overall. In the final of the event, Minakov contributed to the finals relay first-place finish in 3:03.45 with relay teammates Aleksandr Shchegolev, Kliment Kolesnikov, and Vladislav Grinev, and won a gold medal for his efforts in both the prelims and final. The following day, Minakov ranked second in the prelims heats of the 100 metre butterfly, ahead of Youssef Ramadan of Egypt and behind Noè Ponti of Switzerland with his time of 49.60 seconds, and qualified for the semifinals later the same day. He split a 21.04 for the lead-off leg of the 4×50 metre mixed freestyle relay, helping his prelims relay teammates qualify the relay for the final ranked first at 1:29.84. In the evening, Minakov qualified for the final of the 100 metre butterfly ranking eighth with a 49.79. Later in the same session, Minakov split a 20.95 for the second leg of 4×50 metre mixed freestyle relay, helping win the bronze medal in 1:28.97.
On the third day of competition, Minakov swam a 49.21 in the 100 metre butterfly final to win the bronze medal. Minakov substituted in for Daniil Markov on the finals relay in the 4×50 metre freestyle relay on day four, splitting a 21.14 for the lead-off leg to contribute to the final time of 1:23.75 and winning the silver medal. In the final of the 4×50 metre medley relay on day five, Minakov split a 21.76 for the butterfly leg of the relay to help win the gold medal in a Championships record time of 1:30.51. On the final day, day six of competition, Minakov split a 48.81 for the butterfly leg of the 4×100 metre medley relay, helping win the bronze medal in a time of 3:20.65.