Liliya Shobukhova

LILIYA SHOBUKHOVA
RUSSIAN FEDERATION

BIRTHDATE:
13 November 1977

PERSONAL BEST:
2:22:00 (London, 2010)

WORLD MARATHON MAJOR HIGHLIGHTS:

25Apr10 Virgin London Marathon 1st 2:22:00
11Oct09 Bank of America Chicago Marathon 1st 2:25:56
26Apr09 Flora London Marathon 3rd 2:24:24

CAREER NOTES:

Shobukhova's marathon debut was at London 2009 and it was eminently successful as she made it all the way to the podium with her third place 2:24:24.

Six months later she started off conservatively at the Bank of America Chicago Marathon, reaching the halfway point in 1:15:05 along with most of the other leading contenders. At 40 kilometers she Shobukhova finally made her move, blazing the 2.2 km final stretch in just 6 minutes, 36 seconds, well under 5 minutes per mile pace and the fastest known split in history for a woman. Shobukhova ended up 35 seconds ahead of Irina Mikitenko who had beaten her at London.

Returning to the British capital in 2010, she again employed a strong kick to stride to victory in 2:22:00. Shobukhova is the first Russian woman to win at London.

She comes from a solid track background, with silver medals at 5,000 meters at both the 2006 World Cup and European Championships. Her best time of 14:23.75 was run in July, 2008. In the summer of 2009 she lowered her 10,000-meter personal best to 30:30.93.

Shobukhova (formerly Volkova) also has exceptional 3,000 meters speed, with a best of 8:27.86 in 2006 when it was an indoor world record.

She has also run a few road races in the U.S. Her most notable victory came at the Philadelphia Distance Run Half-Marathon in 2008 when she beat Catherine Ndereba by 11 seconds and set a personal best of 1:10:21.