[2] In 2022, Makarova started attending Auburn University and competing collegiately on the school swim team partway through the 2021–2022 season, participating in her first competition in early February 2022.

[1][3] In July, at the 2018 European Junior Swimming Championships in Helsinki, Finland, Makarova placed sixth in the final of the 50 metre breaststroke on the first day of competition with a time of 31.71 seconds.

[10] On the first day of competition at the Palace of Water Sports in Kazan for the 2019 European Junior Swimming Championships, Makarova won a bronze medal in the 50 metre breaststroke, finishing behind Benedetta Pilato of Italy and Kotryna Teterevkova with a time of 31.26 seconds.

[18][19] The fifth and final day of competition, Makarova won a silver medal in the 100 metre breaststroke, finishing behind Kayla van der Merwe of Great Britain and ahead of Evgeniia Chikunova of Russia.

[20][21] On the first day of competition at the 2019 FINA World Junior Swimming Championships held at Danube Arena in Budapest, Hungary, Makarova advanced to the final of the 50 metre breaststroke ranking seventh with a time of 31.67 seconds.

[24] In the 100 metre breaststroke final two days later, Makarova finished fourth with a time of 1:07.10, just four-hundredths of a second behind the bronze medalist in the event Kayla van der Merwe.

[29][30] At the fourth stop of the 2021 FINA Swimming World Cup, held in Kazan, Makarova started competition on the first day, 28 October, in the 200 metre breaststroke with a time 2:29.16 that qualified her to the final ranked seventh overall.

[43] On 16 March 2022, Makarova split a 27.40 for the breaststroke leg of the 4×50 yard medley relay at the 2022 NCAA Championships to help achieve a 23rd-place finish in 1:37.16.

[48] At the 2022 University of Georgia Invitational in November in Athens, United States, Makarova swam a personal best time of 2:03.75 in the 200 yard individual medley on the first day, placing twenty-eighth overall in the preliminaries.

[56][58] Opening her competition at the 2023 NCAA Division I Championships on day one, Makarova contributed a breaststroke split of 27.49 to a nineteenth-place time of 1:37.00 in the 4×50 yard medley relay.

[59][61] For the 4×100 yard medley relay the same day, she helped place fourteenth in a seventh-rank Auburn Tigers swim program time of 3:31.34.

[59][62] Day one of the 2023 Russian National Championships in Kazan, Makarova placed 22nd in the preliminary heats of the 50 metre breaststroke with a time of 32.91 seconds.

[63] Two morning sessions later, she ranked sixth across all preliminary heats of the 100 metre breaststroke with a time of 1:09.50 and qualified for the event semifinals.