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Helalia Johannes has represented Namibia in the marathon at four Olympics and three World Championships, finishing in 11th place at both the Tokyo 2020 and London 2012 Games. She holds national records in the 10,000, half marathon, and marathon and was a bronze medalist at the 2019 World Athletics Championships marathon.

Johannes has been competing on the international stage since 2005 and qualified for her first Olympics at age 28. At the Beijing 2008 Games, she was 40th in the marathon in 2:35:22. She lowered her personal best in the following Olympic cycle and broke the Namibian marathon record at the next Olympics in London, taking 11th place in 2:26:09. She was 56th at the Rio 2016 Olympic marathon.

Her next major breakthrough came at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, where she won the marathon in 2:32:40, becoming the first Namibian woman to win a Commonwealth gold medal. She continued to lower her marathon personal best and the national record, becoming the first woman to win a medal for Namibia at the World Athletics Championships in 2019 and running the Valencia Marathon in 2:19:52 in 2020.

Johannes is married to Japhet Uutoni, who won a gold medal for Namibia in boxing at the 2006 Commonwealth Games.