Helalia Lukeiko Johannes (born 13 August 1980), also known as Hilaria Johannes, is a

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

n long-distance runner who specializes in the

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...

. She holds the Namibian records in the 10 km, 20 km,

half marathon A half marathon is a road running event of —half the distance of a marathon. It is common for a half marathon event to be held concurrently with a marathon or a 5K race, using almost the same course with a late start, an early finish or shortcu ...

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 The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...

2012 London Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

and

2018 Commonwealth Games The 2018 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and also known as Gold Coast 2018, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that were held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, bet ...

and has won medals at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

Military World Games The Military World Games is a multi-sport event for military sportspeople, organized by the International Military Sports Council (CISM). They have been held since 1995, although championships for separate sports had been held for some years. A w ...

, the

All-Africa Games The African Games, formally known as the All-Africa Games or the Pan African Games, are a continental multi-sport event held every four years, organized by the African Union (AU) with the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (AN ...

and at the

Biography

She was born in the village of Oshali in the

Oshana Region Oshana is one of the fourteen regions of Namibia, its capital is Oshakati. The towns of Oshakati, Ongwediva and Ondangwa, all situated with this region, form an urban cluster with the second largest population concentration in Namibia after the ...

. She is a five-time winner of the

Two Oceans Half Marathon The Two Oceans Marathon is a 56 km / 35-mile ultramarathon and 21 km half-marathon held annually in Cape Town, South Africa on the Saturday of the Easter weekend. Known globally as "the world's most beautiful marathon",Hamlett, Alison ...

and holds the current record of 01:10:29. Johannes made her international debut at the

2005 IAAF World Cross Country Championships The 2005 IAAF World Cross Country Championships took place on March 19/20, 2005. The races were held at the Hippodrome Joseph Desjoyaux in Saint-Galmier near Saint-Étienne, France. Reports of the event were given in ''The New York Times'', in ...

, where she finished 80th in the women's long race.Johannes Helalia
IAAF. Retrieved on 1 November 2011. She came fifth in the half marathon of the

2007 Summer Universiade The 2007 Summer Universiade officially known as the XXIV Summer Universiade and commonly known as Bangkok Universiade, was an international Multi-sport event, multi-sport for university athletes that took place from 8 to 18 August 2007 in Bangkok, ...

and completed the same feat at the

2007 All-Africa Games The 9th All-Africa Games took place between 11 and 23 July 2007 in Algiers, the capital city of Algeria. Algiers is the first city to hold All-Africa Games for a second time. The 1978 All-Africa Games were held there. Besides Algeria, only Nige ...

. She also ran in the

Dublin Marathon The Dublin Marathon is an annual 26.2 mile (42.2 km) road marathon in Dublin, Ireland, held on the last Sunday in October. Prior to 2016, the race took place on the last Monday in October, which is a public holiday in Ireland. Held each year ...

that year, coming in fourth place.2010 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships – Women's biographies
IAAF (2010). Retrieved on 1 November 2011. Johannes ran a qualifying time (2:37:00) of 2:33:06 hours at the

Seoul International Marathon The Seoul International Marathon, also known as the ''Dong-A Ilbo Seoul Marathon or Seoul Marathon'' is an annual marathon race that takes place in Seoul, South Korea. It is one of two annual races over the 42.195 km classic distance in the ...

in March 2008, qualifying her for the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

. She placed fortieth in the rankings in the Olympic marathon race. She again represented her country on the global stage at the

2009 World Championships in Athletics The 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () were held in Berlin, Germany from 15–23 August 2009. The majority of events took place in the Olympiastadion, while the marathon and racewalking events started and finished at the Brandenburg ...

but finished 56th in a slow time of 2:50:19 hours. She rebounded at the Dublin Marathon, finishing as the runner-up. The following year, she had one of her best international performances, coming 16th at the

2010 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships The 2010 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships was held in Nanning, China on 16 October 2010. The competition took place on the city streets, beginning and ending at Wuxiang Square, with a total prize purse of US$245,000 at stake. The Kenyan ...

. She was the 2011 winner of the Dublin Marathon in a personal best and Namibian national record run of 2:30:37 hours. That year, she won two

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receive ...

s for Namibia, first in the marathon at the

2011 Military World Games The 2011 Military World Games ( pt, Jogos Mundiais Militares de 2011), officially known as the 5th CISM Military World Games ( pt, V Jogos Mundiais Militares do CISM), was hosted from July 15–24, 2011 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The 5th Military ...

and then in the half marathon at the

2011 All-Africa Games The 10th All-Africa Games took place between September 3–18, 2011 in Maputo, Mozambique. Maputo's hosting marked the third time the Games was held in the southern part of the continent. Host awarding In April 2005, Lusaka, Zambia was named t ...

. She knocked more than three minutes off her then personal best at the 2012

Vienna Marathon The Vienna City Marathon is an annual marathon race over the classic distance of 42.195 km held in Vienna, Austria since 1984. History The first edition was held on with a total of 794 competitors. It is Austria's largest road running event ...

, taking third place behind Olga Glok. 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 Namibian record. 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. She entered the

2013 Tokyo Marathon The 2013 Tokyo Marathon ( ja, 東京マラソン 2013) was the seventh edition of the annual marathon race in Tokyo, Japan and was held on Sunday, 24 February. An IAAF Gold Label Road Race, it was the first World Marathon Majors event to be hel ...

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 The 14th IAAF World Championships in Athletics (Moscow 2013) () was an international athletics competition held in Moscow, Russia, from 10–18 August 2013. Initially, Russia won the most gold medals to top the table for the first time since 200 ...

but failed to finish. At the start of 2014, she ran 2:28:27 hours for third place at the

. At the

2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games ( gd, Geamannan a' Cho-fhlaitheis 2014), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014, ( sco, Glesca 2014 or Glesga 2014; gd, Glaschu 2014), was an international multi-sport ev ...

, she was leading the marathon before an injury caused her to slow. She finished in 5th place. Helalia won Namibia's second gold medal at the Commonwealth Games 2018 when she won the women's marathon. Johannes completed the 42,2 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. Her husband,

Japhet Uutoni Japhet Uutoni (also spelled Jafet Uutoni; born 29 June 1979) is a Namibian professional boxer in the light flyweight division. He was the 2005 Namibian sportsperson of the year in the Namibian newspaper and won a gold medal at the 2006 Common ...

, also won a gold medal for Namibia in boxing at the

2006 Commonwealth Games The 2006 Commonwealth Games, officially the XVIII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Melbourne 2006 (Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm 2006'' or ''Naarm 2006''), was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth held ...

. In 2019, Johannes broke three Namibian records. She broke the Namibian marathon record to win the

Nagoya Marathon The , named until the 2010 race, is an annual marathon race for female runners over the classic distance of 42 km and 195 metres, held in Nagoya, Japan in early March every year. It holds World Athletics Platinum road race status. It i ...

in a time of 2:22:25. She then broke the Namibian half-marathon record in April at the

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. In September, she achieved her greatest career landmark by earning a medal at the

Athletics World Championships Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competiti ...

for her third place in the marathon. In December 2020, she broke her own national marathon record, placing third at the

Valencia Marathon The Valencia Marathon (also known as Marathon Valencia Trinidad Alfonso EDP for sponsorship reasons) is an annual marathon road running event hosted by Valencia, Spain since 1981. It is categorized as a Platinum Label Road Race by World Athletic ...

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.

Achievements

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Johannes, Helalia 1980 births Living people Namibian female long-distance runners Namibian female marathon runners Olympic athletes for Namibia Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics World Athletics Championships athletes for Namibia World Athletics Championships medalists African Games bronze medalists for Namibia African Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 2011 All-Africa Games Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Namibia Athletes (track and field) at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2018 Commonwealth Games People from Oshana Region 20th-century Namibian women 21st-century Namibian women Medallists at the 2018 Commonwealth Games