Mikhail Yakovlev

Mikhail Yakovlev was born in 2000 in Moscow

Yakovlev was born in Moscow to a Jewish family. As a child he tried swimming, football, basketball and motor sports, but preferred cycling and joined Russia's youth cycling team.

Riding for Russia, he won the European U23 sprint and keirin titles in 2021. That year he also took bronze in the keirin at the World Championship in Roubaix and bronze in the sprint at the European Championship. In May 2022 he set an unofficial world record of 9.099 seconds in the 200m flying time trial.

After Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the sanctions on Russian athletes, he chose to represent another country. In August 2022 he moved to Israel and settled in Tel Aviv. He began riding for Israel in 2023 and won bronze in the keirin at the Nations Cup in Jakarta.

In 2024 he won bronze in the sprint at the European Championship in Apeldoorn, Israel's first medal in track cycling at that event. At the Paris Olympics he set an Olympic record of 9.152 seconds in the sprint qualifying and finished seventh. In October 2024 he won silver in the keirin at the World Championship in Ballerup, and in 2025 he won silver in the sprint at the European Championship.