Central's Avakov is so fast that other swimmers stop to watch him
Jan. 14—STEVE VanDerBeken has either coached or seen all of the Queen City's fastest swimmers over the past 50 years.
And according to VanDerBeken, there has never been a swimmer from Manchester — and, arguably, the state — faster in his best events than Alexei Avakov.
Avakov, a senior at The Founders Academy who competes for Central during the high school season, set both the NHIAA record and University of New Hampshire pool record in the 100-meter breaststroke (55.24 seconds) at the NHIAA Swimming and Diving Championships last season.
The Manchester resident also owns the New England record in the 50 breaststroke for boys ages 17-18 (25.18) and the New England men's open record in the 100 breaststroke (53.48).
Avakov, 18, is committed to NCAA Division I swimming power Indiana University, the program built by the late legendary coach James "Doc" Counsilman and that has produced Olympic champions like Mark Spitz.
Last summer, Avakov qualified for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials, which will be held in June at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
"Even with all the swimming success, he's just a sincere, normal, personable guy that worked really hard," said VanDerBeken, who coaches the Central, West and Trinity swim teams and began coaching high school swimming in the city in 1974.
As soon as Avakov got off the podium at the New England Long Course Senior Championships last July at Brown University, he broke down crying.
That's the meet where he qualified for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in the 100 breaststroke with his first-place time of 1:02.19. "I was just so thankful to all my teammates and coaches who brought me here because I never thought that I would be a competitive swimmer ever," said Avakov last Friday before practice at the YMCA of Downtown Manchester.
The two-time high school All-American became interested in swimming because his older sister, Aly, 21, competed for the Tiger Sharks at the YMCA in Goffstown. Avakov started swimming around 6 years old and also joined the Tiger Sharks.
In 2020, Avakov dove into more competitive swimming when he joined Phoenix Swimming in Haverhill, Mass., with his former Central teammate, Mirza Kruscica.
Phoenix Swimming's coach, Lori Paszko, knows almost everything there is to know about the sport, Avakov said. Of the countless lessons he has learned from Paszko, Avakov said the most important was to not be anybody other than himself.
Avakov said that he and North Hampton's Max Reich, who also swam for Phoenix, had similar paths to Indiana and he used to feel pressure to live up to Reich's success.
Reich, a senior at Indiana and a St. Thomas Aquinas High School alum, competed in the 100 and 200 breaststroke at the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team Trials.
"One day, she (Paszko) pulled me off from practice when I was having a tough time and she was like, 'You should be excited with your accomplishments. You're you. You don't have to be anybody else,'" Avakov said. "That's literally the thing that stuck with me."
Avakov has competed in almost every event over his high school career.
A two-time defending NHIAA 50 freestyle and 100 breaststroke champion, he has won all his races at Central's first three meets this season. Avakov's best and favorite race, though, is the 100 breaststroke, in which his fastest time is 1:01.71. It was the event that first made him believe he could become a competitive swimmer.
Avakov swims that race in an unorthodox manner, he said. He does not put an emphasis on getting a good push off the wall and instead relies on his swimming speed.
"Most of the big competitions, you'll see me (start) getting beat by everybody but I can outswim everybody no matter who it is," Avakov said.
At high school meets, Avakov is a spectacle, Central junior Abby Gowern said.
"I've been to multiple high school meets where everyone will stop and just watch him swim whenever he is swimming," said Gowern, who also swims for Phoenix. "He's someone everyone enjoys watching just because of how fast he is in terms of the high school level."
Avakov most enjoys the community aspect of the sport and said he views swimming for Central as an opportunity to give back.
Avakov said he always tries to hype his teammates up before their races at meets. Gowern, the two-time defending NHIAA champion in both the 200 and 500 freestyle, said Avakov is an assertive leader for the Little Green.
"If he speaks up at practice or when we're doing a workout or anything, everyone will definitely listen," Gowern said. "He's very strong in those aspects."
Avakov said he is working on his going-out speed and mentally preparing for both the big-time competition and atmosphere at the Olympic Trials in July.
Three pools will be constructed on Lucas Oil Stadium's football field (where the NFL Colts play) and the venue will seat 30,000 fans for the trials.
At Indiana, the world will be open to Avakov, said VanDerBeken.
"As you can see from his progression at the high school state championship level, he's put in the work to excel," VanDerBeken said.
