Irina Mikitenko, née Volynskaya (Russian: Ирина Волынская (Микитенко); born 23 August 1972 in Bakanas, Kazakh SSR, Soviet Union), is a retired[1] German long-distance runner who competed in marathons.

She came close to a major 5000 m medal on several occasions: at the World Championships in Athletics she was fourth in 1999 and fifth in 2001, while at the 2000 Summer Olympics took fifth place.

A run of 2:19:19 hours to win the Berlin Marathon made her the fourth fastest woman ever at that point.

A year later, Mikitenko became the German champion in cross-country running, defending her national title over 5,000 metres.

She placed fifth in the 5,000 metres at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, and finished in the same position at the 2001 World Athletics Championships in Edmonton.

She withdrew from the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing due to hip problems causing pain whilst running on 1 August 2008.

[3] On 2 November 2008, Mikitenko won the jackpot prize of 500,000 $US of the World Marathon Majors (WMM) for the best performer in New York, London, Chicago, Berlin and Boston within the last two years.

She repeated her performance at the London Marathon in 2009, finishing with a time of 2:22:11, one minute ahead of Britain's Mara Yamauchi.

[4] Following the death of her father in July, Mikitenko struggled to find form in the buildup to the 2009 World Championships.

[5] Finally she participated in the October 2009 Chicago Marathon, winning with an official time of 2:26:31 and won the half-million dollar WMM jackpot for a second consecutive year.

[8] She signed up for the 2010 Chicago Marathon but, despite having the fastest time in qualifying, she faded in the second half of the race and ended up in fourth place.