His first international biathlon tournament was the Junior World Championships in Ridnaun in 2002, where his best result was 64th place in the Sprint event.

In the opening race of the season, Fak came in 47th, but in the Individual, he earned his first World Cup points with a 38th position finish.

[2] He managed to win his first points in the World Cup only on 23 January 2010, with a 24th place in Antholz,[3] and was largely forgotten by the public by that time.

[2] At the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Fak once again created a sensation by winning the bronze medal in the 10 km sprint.

[6] At the World Cup races in the US in 2011, which were held in freezing temperatures, Jakov Fak suffered 3rd-degree frostbite to his trigger finger.

Jakov and his coaches decided to pull out of the Biathlon World Championships 2011 in Russia to focus on recovering from his injury and saving his finger.

He won two medals, a silver in the mixed relay (together with Andreja Mali, Teja Gregorin, and Klemen Bauer).