View source for Helalia Johannes

{{short description|Namibian long-distance runner}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}
{{Infobox sportsperson
| name = Helalia Johannes
| image = Helalia Johannes.jpg
| image_size = 
| caption = Johannes in the [[Athletics at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women's marathon|Marathon]] at the [[2012 Summer Olympics|2012 Olympics]] in London
| nationality = Namibian
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1980|8|13}}
| birth_place = [[Oshali]], Namibia
| height = 1.65 m
| weight = 45 kg
| country = Namibia
| sport = [[Sport of athletics|Athletics]]
| event = [[Marathon]]
| medaltemplates = 
{{MedalCompetition|[[IAAF World Athletics Championships|World Championships]]}}
{{Medal|Bronze|[[2019 World Athletics Championships|2019 Doha]]|[[2019 World Athletics Championships – Women's marathon|Marathon]]}}
{{Medal|Competition|[[Commonwealth Games]]}}
{{Medal|Gold|[[2018 Commonwealth Games|2018 Gold Coast]]|[[Athletics at the 2018 Commonwealth Games|Marathon]]}}
{{Medal|Bronze|[[2022 Commonwealth Games|2022 Birmingham]]|[[Athletics at the 2022 Commonwealth Games|Marathon]]}}
{{Medal|Competition|[[All-Africa Games]]}}
{{Medal|Bronze|[[2011 All-Africa Games|2011 Maputo]]|[[Athletics at the 2011 All-Africa Games|Half marathon]]}}
{{Medal|Competition|[[Military World Games]]}}
{{Medal|Bronze|[[2011 Military World Games|2011 Rio de Janeiro]]|[[Athletics at the Military World Games|Marathon]]}}
}}

'''Helalia Lukeiko Johannes''' (born 13 August 1980), also known as '''Hilaria Johannes''', is a [[Namibia]]n long-distance runner who specializes in the [[marathon]]. She holds the [[List of Namibian records in athletics|Namibian records]] in the 10&nbsp;km, 20&nbsp;km, [[half marathon]] and marathon events.

At 39 years of age, she became a World Championships bronze medallist in the marathon. She represented her country at the [[2008 Beijing Olympics]], [[2012 London Olympics]] and [[2018 Commonwealth Games]] and has won medals at the [[World Athletics Championships|World Championships]], [[Military World Games]], the [[All-Africa Games]] and at the [[2018 Commonwealth Games]].

==Biography==
She was born in the village of Oshali in the [[Oshana Region]]. She is a five-time winner of the [[Two Oceans Half Marathon]] and holds the current record of 01:10:29.<ref>[https://neweralive.na/posts/johannes-wins-two-oceans-half-marathon] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111127192824/http://namibiasport.com.na/node/17689 |date=27 November 2011 }}. Namibia Sport (25 April 2011). Retrieved on 1 November 2011.</ref>

Johannes made her international debut at the [[2005 IAAF World Cross Country Championships]], where she finished 80th in the women's long race.<ref name=IAAFBio>[http://www.iaaf.org/athletes/biographies/letter=0/athcode=205894/index.html Johannes Helalia]. IAAF. Retrieved on 1 November 2011.</ref> She came fifth in the half marathon of the [[Athletics at the 2007 Summer Universiade|2007 Summer Universiade]] and completed the same feat at the [[Athletics at the 2007 All-Africa Games|2007 All-Africa Games]]. She also ran in the [[Dublin Marathon]] that year, coming in fourth place.<ref name=2010WHM>[http://www.iaaf.org/mm/document/competitions/competition/05/85/35/20101016012850_httppostedfile_biographies_22597.pdf 2010 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships – Women's biographies]{{dead link|date=March 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}. IAAF (2010). Retrieved on 1 November 2011.</ref>

Johannes ran a qualifying time (2:37:00) of 2:33:06 hours at the [[Seoul International Marathon]] in March 2008, qualifying her for the [[Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics|2008 Summer Olympics]]. She placed fortieth in the rankings in the [[Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Women's marathon|Olympic marathon race]].<ref>[https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/jo/helalia-johannes-1.html Helalia Johannes] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120912015348/http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/jo/helalia-johannes-1.html |date=12 September 2012 }}. Sports Reference. Retrieved on 1 November 2011.</ref> She again represented her country on the global stage at the [[2009 World Championships in Athletics]] but finished 56th in a slow time of 2:50:19 hours. She rebounded at the Dublin Marathon, finishing as the runner-up.<ref name=2010WHM/> The following year, she had one of her best international performances, coming 16th at the [[2010 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships]].<ref name=IAAFBio/>

She was the 2011 winner of the Dublin Marathon in a personal best and Namibian national record run of 2:30:37 hours.<ref>Dufy, Coilin (1 November 2011). [http://www.iaaf.org/news/newsid=62828.html Course record for Ndungu in Dublin]. IAAF. Retrieved on 1 November 2011.</ref> That year, she won two [[bronze medal]]s for Namibia, first in the marathon at the [[Track and field at the 2011 Military World Games|2011 Military World Games]] and then in the half marathon at the [[Athletics at the 2011 All-Africa Games|2011 All-Africa Games]]. She knocked more than three minutes off her then personal best at the 2012 [[Vienna Marathon]], taking third place behind [[Olga Glok]].<ref>Wenig, Jorg (15 April 2012). [http://www.iaaf.org/Mini/LRR12/News/NewsDetail.aspx?id=64573 Sugut runs 2:06:58 while Tola defends; Haile beats Paula in chase in Vienna]. IAAF. Retrieved on 21 April 2012.</ref> At the 2012 Summer Olympics, Johannes knocked more than a minute off that personal best, finishing in 12th with a new best of 2:26:09 – a [[List of Namibian records in athletics|Namibian record]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.olympic.org/olympic-results/london-2012/athletics/marathon-w |title=Athletics at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women's Marathon results |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |website= www.olympic.org |publisher= IOC |access-date=23 August 2013}}</ref> Her third and final marathon outing of 2012 came in Dublin, but she was somewhat slower and came sixth in a time of 2:35:01 hours.<ref>[http://www.tilastopaja.org/db/atw.php?ID=43506&Season=2012&Odd=0 Helaria Johannes]. Tilastopaja. Retrieved on 22 March 2014.</ref>

She entered the [[2013 Tokyo Marathon]] and finished in under two and a half hours, taking sixth place. She was chosen to represent Namibia in the marathon at the [[2013 World Championships in Athletics]] but failed to finish. At the start of 2014, she ran 2:28:27 hours for third place at the [[Seoul International Marathon]].<ref>Minshull, Phil (16 March 2014). [http://www.iaaf.org/news/report/yacob-jarso-2014-seoul-international-marathon Jarso smashes personal best with 2:06:17 to win in Seoul]. IAAF. Retrieved on 22 March 2014.</ref> At the [[2014 Commonwealth Games]], she was leading the marathon before an injury caused her to slow. She finished in 5th place.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.namibian.com.na/index.php?page=read&id=78385|title=Helalia Johannes – 'born to run'|last=Namibian|first=The|website=The Namibian|language=en|access-date=10 June 2019}}</ref>

Helalia won Namibia's second gold medal at the Commonwealth Games 2018 when she won the women's marathon.
Johannes completed the 42,2&nbsp;km marathon in 2 hours 32 minutes 40 seconds to finish well ahead of second-placed Lisa Weightman of Australia (2:33:23), while another Australian, Jess Trengrove, won bronze in 2:34:09. Johannes was the first Namibian woman to win a Commonwealth gold medal.<ref name=":0" /> Her husband, [[Japhet Uutoni]], also won a gold medal for Namibia in boxing at the [[2006 Commonwealth Games]].<ref name=":0" />

In 2019, Johannes broke three Namibian records. She broke the Namibian marathon record to win the [[Nagoya Marathon]] in a time of 2:22:25. She then broke the Namibian half-marathon record in April at the [[Two Oceans Half Marathon]] in Cape Town, running a winning time of 1:10:30. She then proceeded to break the 10 km record in Port Elizabeth with a time of 31.50.<ref name=":0" />

In September, she achieved her greatest career landmark by earning a medal at the [[2019 World Athletics Championships|Athletics World Championships]] for her third place in the marathon.<ref>{{Cite web|date=27 September 2019|title=Doha 2019 - RESULTS - Marathon Women - Final|url=https://media.aws.iaaf.org/competitiondocuments/pdf/6033/AT-MAR-W-f----.RS6.pdf|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190928091007/https://media.aws.iaaf.org/competitiondocuments/pdf/6033/AT-MAR-W-f----.RS6.pdf|archive-date=28 September 2019|access-date=3 August 2020|website=iaaf.org}}</ref>

In December  2020, she broke her own national marathon record, placing third at the [[Valencia Marathon]] in a time of 2:19:52;  with this achievement, Namibia became the third African country to break the 2:20 barrier in women's marathon after Kenya and Ethiopia.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/world-athletics-label-road-races/news/evans-chebet-peres-jepchirchir-valencia-marat|title=Jepchirchir and Chebet power to Kenyan double at Valencia Marathon|language=en|access-date=6 December 2020}}</ref>

==Achievements==
{| {{AchievementTable|Event=yes}}
|-
!colspan="6"|Representing {{NAM}}
|-
|2008
|[[Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics|Olympic Games]]
|[[Beijing]], [[PR China]]
|40th
|Marathon
|[[Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Women's marathon|2:35:22]]
|-
|2011
|[[Athletics at the 2011 All-Africa Games|All-Africa Games]]
|[[Maputo]], [[Mozambique]]
|bgcolor="cc9966" | 3rd
|Half marathon
|[[Athletics at the 2011 All-Africa Games – Women's half marathon|1:11:12]]
|-
|2012
|[[Athletics at the 2012 Summer Olympics|Olympic Games]]
|[[London]], [[Great Britain]]
|12th
|Marathon
|[[Athletics at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women's marathon|2:26:09]] (PB)
|-
|2013
|[[2013 World Championships in Athletics|World Championships]]
|[[Moscow]], Russia
|DNF
|Marathon
|[[2013 World Championships in Athletics – Women's marathon|DNF]]
|-
|2018
|[[Athletics at the 2018 Commonwealth Games|Commonwealth Games]]
|[[Gold Coast, Queensland|Gold Coast]], [[Australia]]
|bgcolor="ffd700" |1st
|Marathon
|[[Athletics at the 2018 Commonwealth Games – Women's marathon|2:32:40]]
|-
|2019
|[[2019 World Athletics Championships|World Championships]]
|[[Doha]], [[Qatar]]
|bgcolor="cc9966" |3rd
|Marathon
|[[2019 World Athletics Championships – Women's marathon|2:34:15]]
|-
|2021
|[[Athletics at the 2020 Summer Olympics|Olympic Games]]
|[[Sapporo, Japan]]
|11th
|Marathon
|[[Athletics at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Women's marathon|2:31:22]]
|}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* {{World Athletics}}
* {{Olympics.com}}
* {{Olympedia}}
* {{CGF profile}}
* {{2014 Commonwealth Games profile}}
* {{2018 Commonwealth Games profile|athletics/athlete-profile-n6004943-helalia-johannes}}

{{Footer Commonwealth Champions Marathon Women}}
{{Footer Nagoya Marathon Champions}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johannes, Helalia}}
[[Category:1980 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Namibian female long-distance runners]]
[[Category:Namibian female marathon runners]]
[[Category:Olympic athletes for Namibia]]
[[Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:World Athletics Championships athletes for Namibia]]
[[Category:World Athletics Championships medalists]]
[[Category:African Games bronze medalists for Namibia]]
[[Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 2011 All-Africa Games]]
[[Category:Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Namibia]]
[[Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 2014 Commonwealth Games]]
[[Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 2018 Commonwealth Games]]
[[Category:Sportspeople from Oshana Region]]
[[Category:21st-century Namibian sportswomen]]
[[Category:Medallists at the 2018 Commonwealth Games]]
[[Category:Military World Games bronze medalists]]
[[Category:Military World Games medalists in athletics (track and field)]]
[[Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 2024 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Cape Town Marathon female winners]]
[[Category:Commonwealth Games gold medallists in athletics]]
[[Category:African Games bronze medalists in athletics (track and field)]]