Andrei Minakov Plans to Represent Russia at World Short Course Championships
11/21/2024 02:58 PM
By Braden Keith on SwimSwam
With the approval of the updated rules for athlete participation from “nations in conflict” earlier this week, Russia plans to send a “full roster” to the Short Course World Championships. That could include American-trained swimmer Andrei Minakov, who told SwimSwam that he plans to go to the meet in Budapest, Hungary if he is selected.
Minakov is not racing at this week’s Russian Championships, which begin Thursday in St. Petersburg, but could still be selected under World Championship selection criteria published by the newly-confederated Russian Water Sports Federation on Wednesday.
“The decision on the participation of our athletes was made in a short time frame and we were forced to work in an accelerated mode.
Based on the current conditions for participation, criteria were developed that will allow us to select our best athletes,” commented Vladimir Salnikov, First Vice President of the Russian Water Sports Federation.
The Russian selection criteria (here, in Russian) allows for up to 8 men and 8 women who have the best performance in the finals heats of the qualifying competition, which is this week’s Russian Swimming Championships.
There is a special carveout in the rules for Minakov saying that he will be selected on the basis of his performance at the World Cup earlier this year, where he participated at the request of the federation. In Incheon, his only stop on the circuit, he finished 3rd in the 100 fly in 49.71.
Only six Russian pool swimmers have been approved for “high risk” competitions like the World Short Course Swimming Championships, including Minakov. Others are Yuliya Efimova, Anna Egorova, Nika Godun, Ivan Kozhakin, and Evgenii Somov. Efimovoa, Minakov, Egorova, and Somov all currently train in California in the United States.
Russian coaches will also be able to attend if they are approved for neutral status.
The new rules does open the door for more Russians to become eligible for neutral status, with the publishing of official selection criteria seeming to imply a tacit acceptance of the new regulations in spite of Russia’s ongoing public spat with the Olympic movement over similar rules.
Minakov, 22, won six medals at the last Short Course World Championship meet he attended in 2021 in Abu Dhabi. That included gold medals as part of Russian relays and an individual bronze in the 100 fly. In 2019, as a junior, he won silver in the 100 fly at the long course World Championships in 50.83, which remains his best time.
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