Vitaliy Shafar

Home: Lutsk, Ukraine
Bib: #23
Pronunciation: Vee-TUH-leey Sh-u-FAR
Birthdate: 27 January 1982
Personal Best: 2:11:52 (Frankfurt, 2013)

World Marathon Majors:

12Aug12 London Olympic Games Marathon 29th2:16:36

Marathon Highlights:

27Oct13BMW Frankfurt Marathon11th2:11:52
17Mar13Honda Los Angeles Marathon 5th2:13:30
25Mar12Barcelona Marathon12th2:14:22
02Oct11Belaya Tserkva Marathon3rd2:15:20
17Apr11Vienna City Marathon16th2:15:58
06Dec09Fukuoka Marathon10th2:15:07
19Apr09Debno Marathon3rd2:15:21
01Mar09Otsu Marathon11th2:16:52
16Mar08Roma Marathon 14th2:13:35
14Oct07Eindhoven Marathon 8th2:12:07
29Ap07 Vienna City Marathon 15th2:18:37
17Sep06Warsaw Marathon 1st2:12:29

Career Notes:

Vitaliy Shafar is a consistent marathon runner who broke 2:12 this past year at the Frankfurt Marathon. Shafar represented his country at the 2012 London Olympic Games Marathon and says, “The most intense pivotal moment of my career was running in the London Olympics in the marathon distance. It was tough and it was challenging, but I’m proud I finished it, no matter what; it was very important for me to finish there in London.” Shafar has made the podium three times in his career. He won the 2006 Warsaw Marathon, placed third at the Debno Marathon and third at the Belaya Tserkva Marathon.

Personal Notes:

Shafar says he was always interested in sports, but when he was 16 he began to focus on running. At 17 he was the Ukrainian junior national champion in cross country and continued competing at the Volinskiy State University of Physical Culture and Sports. His fiancé is elite runner Aleksandra Duliba who is also running the 2014 Boston Marathon. Shafar trains in Kislovodsk, Russia, at altitude and in Krim, Ukraine. He said he and Duliba ski and mountain bike together, although not that often now that they are focusing on improving in the marathon. Shafar says he enjoys travel and adventure and would like to go to Tibet and meet with a guru to reach another level of self-improvement.