Mikhail Yakovlev

Early and personal life Iakovlev was born in Moscow, Russia, and is Jewish. He is Israeli and lives in Tel Aviv, Israel. He is the tallest and heaviest rider in the field, at 199 cm (6 ft 6 in) and 106 kg (234 lb).

In May 2022, Iakovlev set a new unofficial world record at the Moscow Grand Prix in the 200m flying track time trial in 9.099 seconds.

2022–present; European championship bronze medal

In August 2022, at 21 years of age, Iakovlev moved to Israel and became an Israeli citizen. Even before he emigrated to Israel, he shared photos of the Israeli and Ukrainian flags on his social media. It was the first time an Israeli athlete took the podium in a competition in Indonesia, with the Israeli national uniform and the Israeli flag flying next to his name, as in the past, the Muslim country had forbidden it. He also won a silver medal in the third round of the Nations Cup, in Cairo, Egypt, in Sprint, behind Harrie Lavreysen in the Sprint competition.

In 2024, Iakovlev won the bronze medal in the 2024 European Championship in Sprint, in Apeldoorn (Gelderland), the Netherlands, behind Harrie Lavreysen and Polish cyclist Mateusz Rudyk, while defeating Jeffrey Hoogland in the bronze medal race. It was Israel's first-ever medal in track cycling at the European Championships. In March 2024, he won the Israeli National Championship in Keirin and Sprint, for the second straight year. At 23 years of age, he set an Olympic record in the men's track cycling sprint at the competition, with a time of 9.152 seconds.

He also competed in the Men's keirin, and won his heat in the qualifiers well ahead of 2023 world champion Kevin Quintero of Colombia and four other riders. He came in 13th in the competition, as he next competed in the quarter-finals, where he was eliminated.