Competing in the high jump, he won the 1987 World Indoor Championships as well as a silver medal at the 1987 World Championships for the USSR. His personal best jump of was also the world record from 4 September 1985 to 30 June 1987, when Patrik Sjöberg beat it by one centimetre. His leap of places him as the fifth-highest jumper in history. Like all modern high jumpers, Paklin used the Fosbury Flop style, and he was the first to do so jumping off his right leg.