Jeļena Prokopčuka (née Čelnova; born 21 September 1976) is a retired Latvian long-distance runner, best known for winning the New York City Marathon in 2005 and 2006.
Biography She holds six outdoor and one indoor Latvian record, ranging from 3000 metres to the marathon 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, 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, 2003Paris Half Marathon - List of Winners and 2009.IAAF, 8 March 2009: Prokopcuka and Worku win in Paris 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, coming fifth overall.Fernandes, Antonio Manuel (25 March 2012). Tadese collects third consecutive win in Lisbon. IAAF. Retrieved on 26 March 2012. She was tenth at the 2012 London Marathon and won the Riga Half Marathon. She surprised at the Great North Run, leading out the elite women, and although she fell to fourth she ran a national record of 68:09 minutes.Wenig, Jorg (16 September 2012). Dibaba and Kipsang take Great North Run victories - REPORT. IAAF. Retrieved on 21 January 2013. 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.Kizaki clinches World Championships berth with Nagoya victory as Noguchi returns. IAAF (10 March 2013). Retrieved on 17 March 2013. She was runner-up to Tirunesh Dibaba 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 Representing 1994World Junior ChampionshipsLisbon, Portugal14th (h)3000m9:33.6713th10,000m36:21.591997European U23 ChampionshipsTurku, Finland5th5000m15:55.746th10,000m33:41.512000Olympic GamesSydney, Australia 9th5000 m14:55.46 19th10,000 m32:17.722001World Half Marathon ChampionshipsBristol, England 5thHalf marathon1:08:432002Paris Half MarathonParis, France 1stHalf marathon1:11:08European ChampionshipsMunich, Germany 5th10,000 m31:17.72World Half Marathon ChampionshipsBrussels, Belgium 3rdHalf marathon1:09:152003Paris Half MarathonParis, France 1stHalf marathon1:09:42World ChampionshipsParis, France 10th10,000 m31:06.142004Boston MarathonBoston, United States 4thMarathon2:30:16Olympic GamesAthens, Greece 7th10,000 m31:04.102005World ChampionshipsHelsinki, Finland 12th10,000 m31:04.55New York City MarathonNew York City, United States 1stMarathon2:24:41Osaka International Ladies MarathonOsaka, Japan 1stMarathon2:22:562006Boston MarathonBoston, United States 2ndMarathon2:23:48European ChampionshipsGothenburg, Sweden 6th10,000 m30:38.78New York City MarathonNew York City, United States 1stMarathon2:25:05Kuldīga Half MarathonKuldīga, Latvia 1stHalf marathon1:13:362007Boston MarathonBoston, United States 2ndMarathon2:29:58New York City MarathonNew York City, United States 3rdMarathon2:26:132008Boston MarathonBoston, United States4thMarathon2:28:12Kuldīga Half MarathonKuldīga, Latvia 1stHalf marathon1:15:572009Paris Half MarathonParis, France 1stHalf marathon1:10:432010Kuldīga Half MarathonKuldīga, Latvia 1stHalf marathon1:19:302012Riga MarathonRīga, Latvia 1stHalf marathon1:10:272013New York City MarathonNew York City, United States 3rdMarathon2:27:47Riga MarathonRīga, Latvia 1stHalf marathon1:14:392014New York City MarathonNew York City, United States 4thMarathon2:26:15Riga MarathonRīga, Latvia 1stHalf marathon1:14:522015Osaka International Ladies MarathonOsaka, Japan 1stMarathon2:24:07New York City MarathonNew York City, United States 8thMarathon2:28:46Riga MarathonRīga, Latvia 1stHalf marathon1:13:242016Riga MarathonRīga, Latvia 1stHalf marathon1:16:06
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