Daniel Romanchuk won the men’s wheelchair division in the New York City Marathon for the third time, sprinting away from the field in Central Park for a 5-second victory, while his fellow American Susannah Scaroni dominated the women’s field from start to finish, her second victory in the race.
Romanchuk, 26, finished in 1:36:31. Scaroni’s winning time was 1:48:05, almost 11 minutes ahead of the five-time winner Tatyana McFadden.
The men’s race was a dogfight for the first 15 or so miles. Romanchuk, David Weir of Britain and Tomoki Suzuki of Japan battled for position with the defending champion, Marcel Hug of Switzerland. Hug, who won all six marathon major races last year and the gold medal at the Paris Games, was surrounded by Romanchuk and Weir, with Suzuki slipping back and then racing ahead.
In the second half of the race, Weir and Hug appeared to clip each other’s wheels. Suzuki surged into the lead, chased by Weir and eventually Romanchuk. Hug, who battled a cold in the days before the race, fell far back.
Romanchuk, Weir and Suzuki were within a few seconds of one another just before entering Central Park when Romanchuk cut to Weir’s inside and used a devastating sprint to finish 5 seconds ahead of Weir and 13 seconds in front of Suzuki.
“We all know how we like to race, and we try to completely empty the tanks,” said Romanchuk, who also won the race in 2018 and 2019.
The women’s race was far less dramatic. Scaroni, who set a course record when she won the race in 2022, led from the start. She had a half-minute lead over McFadden, a fellow American, through 5 kilometers and expanded the gap to more than 2 minutes by the 10-kilometer mark. By the race’s midway point, her lead had ballooned to more than four and a half minutes.
“I woke up feeling great today,” Scaroni said. She added that the victory “feels very special.”
McFadden finished second, 10:42 behind Scaroni. Manuela Schär of Switzerland finished third, 11:15 off the pace.
Romanchuk and Scaroni will each earn $35,000 for their first-place finishes.
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