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. Following the death of her father in July, Mikitenko struggled to find form in the buildup to the 2009 World Championships. Jurgen Mallow, director for the German athletics team, said her withdrawal was a blow for the team hosting the championships, stating that she "did not manage to hit World Championship form in the St. Moritz altitude training camp. We are very, very sad about this". 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.