Jeļena Prokopčuka (née Čelnova; born 21 September 1976 in

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

) is a retired Latvian long-distance runner, best known for winning the

New York City Marathon The New York City Marathon, currently branded as the TCS New York City Marathon for sponsorship reasons, is an annual marathon () that courses through the five boroughs of New York City. It is the largest marathon in the world, with 53,627 fini ...

in 2005 and 2006.

Biography

She holds six outdoor and one indoor Latvian record, ranging from

3000 metres The 3000 metres or 3000-metre run is a track running event, also commonly known as the "3K" or "3K run", where 7.5 laps are run around an outdoor 400 m track, or 15 laps around a 200 m indoor track. It is debated whether the 3000 m sho ...

to the

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of kilometres ( 26 mi 385 yd), 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 ...

distance. Her husband, Aleksandrs Prokopčuks, holds the men's Latvian marathon record with 2:15:56 hours. She is a three-time participant at the

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, then part of the King ...

, having represented Latvia in track events in 1996, 2000 and 2004. Prokopčuka won the 2001 Tallinn Marathon. She won the Paris Half Marathon in 2002, 2003 and 2009. She was the 2003 champion at the World Military Cross Country Championships. She won the Great Edinburgh Run three times consecutively from 2005 to 2007. She is also a five-time winner of the Kuldīga Half Marathon, and a two-time winner of the Almond Blossom Cross Country. Elsewhere, she won the 2002 20 Kilomètres de Paris, the Osaka International Ladies Marathon in 2005 (where she ran her national record time of 2:22:56 hours), and the San Silvestre Vallecana in 2006. She was the top-performing European at the 2012

Lisbon Half Marathon EDP Lisbon Half Marathon is an annual international half marathon competition which is contested every March in Lisbon, Portugal. It carries IAAF Gold Label Road Race status. The men's course record of 57:31 was set by Jacob Kiplimo in 2021, which ...

, coming fifth overall. She was tenth at the 2012 London Marathon and won the Riga Half Marathon. She surprised at the

Great North Run The Great North Run (branded the AJ Bell Great North Run for sponsorship purposes) is the largest half marathon in the world, taking place annually in North East England each September. Participants run between Newcastle upon Tyne and South Shie ...

, leading out the elite women, and although she fell to fourth she ran a national record of 68:09 minutes. Her final outing of the year came at the Yokohama Marathon, where her season's best time of 2:26:55 hours brought her fourth place. A strong finish at the 2013 Nagoya Marathon saw her climb from 16th to fourth and record a time of 2:25:46 hours – her fastest in six years. She was runner-up to

Tirunesh Dibaba Tirunesh Dibaba (, Amharic: ጥሩነሽ ዲባባ ቀነኒ; born 1 October 1985) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner athlete who competes in long-distance track events and international road races. She has won three Olympic track gold meda ...

at the Great Manchester Run in May.Wenig, Jörg (26 May 2013)
World lead and course record for Tirunesh Dibaba over 10km in Manchester
IAAF. Retrieved on 1 June 2013.

Achievements

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Prokopcuka, Jelena 1976 births Living people Latvian female long-distance runners Latvian female marathon runners Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Latvia Athletes from Riga New York City Marathon female winners Latvian Academy of Sport Education alumni Latvian female cross country runners