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 (through 16 December 2022).
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.
2022 Pac-12 Conference Championships , where Minakov learned he was banned from LEN events. Heading into his first collegiate championships season, Minakov won the 100 yard butterfly, with a time of 46.40 seconds, and the 50 yard freestyle, with a 19.58, in dual meet in February 2022. At the 2022
Pac-12 Conference Championships in early March 2022, and held at the
King County Aquatic Center (KCAC) in
Federal Way, United States, Minakov split a 19.49 for the butterfly leg of the 4×50 yard medley relay on the first day to help achieve a first-place finish in 1:22.74 and become the second-fastest swimmer in terms of 50 yard butterfly split times on relays in the
NCAA, only after
Joseph Schooling. On day two, he swam a 19.24 in the prelims heats of the 50 yard freestyle to qualify for the final ranking second. In the evening, he swam a personal best time of 19.08 seconds in the final to place second. Minakov followed up his 19.08 with a 19.10 lead-off leg in the next event, the 4×50 yard freestyle relay, helping achieve a fourth-place finish in 1:16.74. Day three of competition, he swam a time of 44.21 seconds in the prelims heats of the 100 yard butterfly to qualify for the final ranking first and set a new Championships record. In the final, he set a new Pac-12 Conference record of 43.90 seconds to win the event, and later in the finals session he helped achieve a win in the 4×100 yard medley relay, splitting a 44.16 for the butterfly leg of the relay. The fourth and final day, he ranked ninth in the prelims heats of the 100 yard freestyle with a 42.68 to qualify for the b-final. In the evening finals session, he placed first in the b-final of the 100 yard freestyle with a 42.27 before helping achieve a third-place finish in the 4×100 yard freestyle relay where he swam a 41.47 for the first 100-yard portion of the relay to contribute to the final time of 2:47.17.
First ban for being Russian (LEN) On 3 March 2022, Minakov was indefinitely banned from international competition at
LEN events along with all other Russians and Belarusians in response to the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the ban was enacted on the second day of the aforementioned 2022 Pac-12 Conference Championships.
2022 NCAA Championships Minakov competed in two events on the first day of the
2022 NCAA Division I Championships, 23 March, starting by helping achieve an eighth-place finish in the 4×50 yard medley relay in 1:22.41 by splitting a 19.42 for the butterfly leg of the relay, then contributing a split of 1:31.49 for the lead-off leg of the 4×200 yard freestyle relay to help place third in 6:06.83. The next day, he helped place fourteenth in the 4×50 yard freestyle relay with a 1:16.36, splitting a 19.20 for the lead-off leg of the relay. For the prelims heats of the 100 yard butterfly on the third morning, he qualified for the final of the event ranking first with a personal best time of 43.77 seconds and broke the pool record of 44.01 seconds set by Joseph Schooling in 2016. He won the 100 yard butterfly title in the final, breaking his own pool record with a personal best time of 43.71 seconds and finishing less than two-tenths of a second ahead of second-place finisher
Luca Urlando and third-place finisher Youssef Ramadan. Following up his 43.71, he split a 43.58 for the butterfly leg of the 4×100 yard medley relay to help place sixth in 3:01.70. In the morning prelims heats of the 100 yard freestyle on the fourth and final day, he qualified for the final ranking fourth with a personal best time of 41.29 seconds. He swam another personal best time in the final of the 100 yard freestyle, finishing third in 41.09 seconds, which was less than three-tenths of a second behind first-place finisher
Brooks Curry and less than three-tenths of a second ahead of sixth-place finisher
Drew Kibler. For the 4×100 yard freestyle relay, he led-off with a 41.61, helping achieve an eighth-place finish in 2:48.21.
Second ban for being Russian (FINA) Twenty-six days after the end of the Championships, Minakov and all other Russians and Belarusians were banned from all
FINA competitions for the remainder of the year, including and not limited to the
2022 World Aquatics Championships and the
2022 World Short Course Championships. Times he and other Russians achieved at non-FINA events from that point out through the end of 2022 did not count towards world records nor world rankings.
2022 US National Championships For the
2022 USA Swimming National Championships, held in July in
Irvine, California, Minakov was allowed to compete, he was required to compete for a United States club instead of his country, and placed fourth in the 100 metre butterfly with a time of 52.24 seconds, which was less than two seconds behind gold medalist
Shaine Casas, and placed fourth in the b-final of the 100 metre freestyle with a time of 49.26 seconds.
2022 Russian Solidarity Games At the November segment of the 2022 Russian Solidarity Games, conducted in short course metres in Kazan for swimming competition, Minakov won the gold medal in the 100 metre butterfly with a time of 49.92 seconds on day four, 22 November. The following day, he finished in a time of 21.31 seconds in the 50 metre freestyle to win the bronze medal, sharing the podium with Kliment Kolesnikov (gold medalist) and Daniil Markov (silver medalist). On day six, he swam a personal best time of 22.30 seconds in the final of the 50 metre butterfly and won the gold medal. The seventh and final day, he achieved a silver medal-win in the 100 metre freestyle with a personal best time of 46.56 seconds in the final. ==2023==