Olena Shurkhno

She managed third at the same race the following year, but performed less well at the Rock 'n' Roll San Diego Marathon, finishing ninth.

[7] Shurkhno set one herself while defending her title at the 2011 Baltimore Marathon, as she clocked a Maryland state record of 2:29:11 hours.

[8] Moving away from her typical racing grounds in the United States, she competed at the high calibre Nagoya Women's Marathon in Japan in March 2012 and improved her best by almost three minutes, coming seventh in 2:25:49.

[9] She was overlooked for the Ukrainian Olympic team and Tetyana Hamera-Shmyrko set a national record at the event.

[10] This mark did not stand for long as a month later Shurkhno ran a new Ukrainian record time of 2:23:32 hours to place third at the 2012 Berlin Marathon.