Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California.

Sergei Kolmogorov (Russian: Сергей Колмогоров) was selected as Russia’s new National Head Coach for Swimming and Open Water. Alexei Akatevu [shown above] will continue as the senior coach for open water.

Akatevu (Russian: Алексею Акатьеву) has been involved with Russia’s open water swimming team for 17 years.

Inducted in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame in 2009, he was the first Russian competitive swimmer to transition from a world-class pool swimmer to a world-class marathon swimmer. After competing at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics in two events, he won the 5 km and 25 km races at the 1998 FINA World Swimming Championships. He later established an open water school in Russia that served as his launching pad to the national team coach.

At the 2000 FINA World Open Water Swimming Championships in Honolulu, Hawaii, he not only coached the team (including the Russian 5 km gold medalist and the 25 km gold medalist), but he also personally swam to a bronze medal in the 25 km, just over a minute slower than the swimmer he was coaching.

Over his career, he won the following medals at the FINA World Championships:
*1994 25 km bronze medal
*1998 5 km gold medal
*1998 25 km gold medal
*1998 5 km team silver medal
*2000 25 km bronze medal

He won the following medals at the LEN European Championships:
*1995 5 km gold medal
*1995 25 km gold medal
*1996 5 km gold medal
*1996 25 km gold medal
*1999 5 km silver medal
*1999 25 km gold medal

He won the following medals on the FINA World Cup Series:
*1999 30 km gold medal in Lake Ohrid (Macedonia)
*2000 25 km gold medal in Bled (Slovenia)
*2000 30 km bronze medal in Lake Ohrid (Macedonia)

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