Irina Mikitenko

Who is Irina Mikitenko?

Irina Mikitenko, née Volynskaya, is a Kazakhstan-born German long-distance runner who competes in marathons. She won the Berlin Marathon in 2008 and is a two-time winner of the London Marathon. She has competed at the Summer Olympics on four occasions.

Mikitenko was a track specialist in the early part of her career, running in distances from 3000 metres to 10,000 metres. She represented Kazakhstan at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics in the 5000 metres but migrated to Germany soon after. Taking up German citizenship, she ran German records in the 3000 m and 5000 m. She came close to a major 5000 m medal on several occasions: at the World Championships in Athletics she was fourth in 1999 and fifth in 2001, while at the 2000 Summer Olympics took fifth place. After a seventh place finish in the event at the 2004 Summer Olympics she took a career break to have a child.

Upon her return to competition she began focusing on road running events. The change up to the marathon brought the greatest success of her career. A run of 2:19:19 hours to win the Berlin Marathon made her the fourth fastest woman ever at that point. Her win in London the year after in 2:22:11 hours was the fastest that year. With consistent marathon performances, she secured the World Marathon Majors title in both 2008 and 2009. She entered her first Olympic marathon in 2012 and came fourteenth.