At least 23 Olympians are entered in next week’s US Masters Swimming National Championship meet, including active NCAA swimmer Andrei Minakov of Russia. The meet, the short course yards version of USMS’s many championship meets, will be held from April 27-30 at the Woolett Aquatic Center in Irvine, California.
The list of attendees (see psych sheets here) includes seven Olympic gold medalists. Among them are Jenny Thompson (8 gold medals, 12 total), Nathan Adrian (5 gold medals, 8 total), Anthony Ervin (3 golds, 4 total), and Melissa Belote Ripley (4 golds).
But maybe the most eyebrowing-raising entries are that of a pair of Russian swimmers who have spend much of their elite careers training in the US: Andrei Minakov and Vlad Morozov.
While Morozov, 30, hasn’t raced since May 2022, Minakov is very much an active elite swimmer. He swam at last week’s Russian Championships, finishing 2nd in the 100 fly. He has also swum each of the last two seasons for Stanford – including 2022, when he was the NCAA Champion in the 100 fly.
It is not uncommon for Olympians to enter Masters meets – many of them come back to the sport after getting some distance from their most-elite competitive levels. It’s not even unheard of for active elites to compete – Anthony Ervin, for example, competed at Masters Nats in 2015 before going on to win the 50 free at the 2016 Olympic Games.
It’s less common, though, for active elites to race at the meet as young as Minakov – who is only 21.
He is the top seed in the 18-24 age group in the 100 fly (43.71), three-and-a-half seconds better than recent USC swimmer Jackson Odgers.
He’s entered in the 100 free on Friday, 100 fly and 50 back on Saturday, and 50 free and 200 free on Sunday. In the 50 free, the second seed is another Russian, Artem Selin. All three Russians are registered with Golden Road Aquatics, the Burbank-based team affiliated with Golden Road Brewing. Golden Road Brewing was co-founded by former USA Swimming National Team member Meg Gill.
List of Olympians Entered in the 2023 US Masters Swimming Championships
- Nathan Adrian, USA (2008-12-16): 5 Gold, 1 Silver, 2 Bronze
- Melissa Belote Ripley, USA (1972-76): 3 G
- Rick Colella, USA (1972-76): 1 B
- Yann deFabrique, France (1992-96)
- Roberto Delgado, Ecuador (1996-2000)
- Anthony Ervin, USA (2000-12-16): 3 G, 1 S
- Jeff Farrell, USA (1960): 2 G
- Kurt Grote, USA (1996): 1 G
- Lea Maurer, USA (1992): 1 G, 1 B
- Andrei Minakov, Russian Olympic Committee (2020)
- Vladimir Morozov, Russia (2012-16): 1 B
- Miguel Ortiz, Spain (2016)
- Markus Rogan, Austria (2000-04-08-12): 2 S
- Gabrielle Rose, Brazil and USA (1996-00)
- David Sims, USA (1980)
- Eduardo Solaeche, Spain (2016)
- Erika (Hansen) Stebbins, USA (1988-92)
- Jenny Thompson, USA (1992-96-00-04): 8 G, 3 S, 1 B
- Margaret (Harding) Toppel, Puerto Rico (1964)
- Ami Trauber, Israel (1960)
- Kim Vandenberg, USA (2008): 1 B
- Dave Wharton, USA (1998-92): 1 S
- Ashley Whitney, USA (1996): 1 G
Good luck
Juan Valdivieso is entered and swam for Peru in 2000 and 2004 (and looks like he’s going to bury me in the 200 fly).
I haven’t seen Jenny Thompson’s name in a long time. Looks like she’s just getting into masters competition. Good for her!
Would be fun to see what Phelps could do with an average training regimen.
It’s going to be the largest USMS Nationals ever. Almost 2,500 swimmers entered!
Well, David Heron and Grant Shouts elite non Olympians entered as well
Eduardo Solaeche is also participating!
*Golden Road Aquatics founded by Mike Lucero right?
Mike and Meg are listed as co-founders of the swim team.
Seeing the active and former Olympians is one of the highlights for USMS Nationals for me and I’ve had a chance to chat and get pictures with all the ones I’ve seen going back 10+ years of Nats.
Regarding the active Olympians (e.g. Adrian, Grevers, Ervin, Lochte, etc) over the years, they’ve all been super gracious about walking around the pool for hours and just chatting with people while stopping for pictures and autographs. In 2015, Ervin and Grevers were the two active Olympians there and I remember them literally walking around for 3+ hours each day they were there and taking the time to have good conversations with everyone who approached them. It’s really a fun perk of Nats!… Read more »
That is so much fun! I’m motivated to register after your anecdote–but too short of notice this year. I’m a CA-based Masters swimmer myself.
On a similar note, I was on the UCLA Masters swim team when I was a college student, and routinely swam next to Mark Spitz! Such a nice guy–and so down to earth. I swam next to him for months before one of my lane mates told me who he was. This was right before his name re-entered headlines with Michael Phelps’ Beijing 2008 run, and I was too young to recognize him from his own swimming glory in ’72. “Swimming next to Mark Spitz on my swim team while in college” remains one of my… Read more »