 In 1998 Iakovakis won the gold medal at the World Junior Championships in Annecy, France with 49.82 seconds, and five years later he won the bronze medal at the 2003 World Championships in Athletics in Paris-Saint-Denis, France.In the final at the Stade de France, he finished in 48.24 seconds after Félix Sánchez and Joey Woody.Iakovakis achieved his personal best of 47.82 seconds on 6 May 2006 in Osaka during the IAAF World Athletics Tour and won his first major competition 3 months later.