Mikhail Koklyaev


Mikhail Viktorovich Koklyaev is a Russian weightlifter, strongman competitor, powerlifter and boxer. Mikhail was born to a Russian father and a Tatar mother, and he is married with two children.

Strongman

Koklyaev has placed third place at the Arnold Strongman Classic in 2006, 2008 and 2013, as well as 2nd in 2009. He was a medalist of all three IFSA World Championships, finishing 3rd in 2005, 2nd in 2006 and 2nd in 2007.
Koklyaev came in second place at the IFSA Strongman World 2-Man Championship, in Vilnius, Lithuania in 2007. He finished 3rd at the 2010 World's Strongest Man contest, but failed to make the finals for the 2012 World's Strongest Man. Koklyaev qualified for the 2013 World's Strongest Man finals, but had to withdraw due to an earlier injury after the first event. He is a 7-time Strongman Champions League grand prix winner, and finished 3rd overall for both the 2010 and 2012 SCL seasons.
Note that his relatively low bench press comes from the fact as a World Class Olympic Weightlifter there is relatively no bench or standing press training as both snatch and clean& jerk are done solely by legs,hip,back strength.

Powerlifting/weightlifting

On 20 December 2008, Mikhail totalled 2,149 lbs at a raw powerlifting meet in Chelyabinsk, Russia with a squat, bench press, and a deadlift.
Mikhail won the +125 kg class in the 2012 WPC Raw European Championships on 26 April 2012 with a squat, bench press, and a deadlift.
On 16 December 2012, at the Chelyabinsk region championship, Mikhail had a raw squat of 360 kg, raw bench of 230 kg, and raw deadlift of 417.5 kg, making his raw total 1007.5 kg.
On Sunday 8 March at the 2009 Arnold Strongman Classic, Mikhail became only the second man in history to clean and jerk the famous 501 lb barbell used by Vasily Alekseyev in 1970.

Exhibition/ Seminar lifts

Weightlifting

On 29 November 2019 Koklyaev made his debut as a professional boxer. He lost to Alexander Emelianenko by technical knockout in the first round.