Switzerland’s Marcel Haug won his fifth New York City Marathon title in a men’s wheelchair by convincingly breaking the course record, while American Susanna Scaroni took her first title in the women’s division and also set a course record.
Known as the “Silver Bullet,” Hug, 36, dominated the race almost from the start, finishing in one hour, 25 minutes and 26 seconds, smashing by nearly four minutes the 15-year record set by Kurt Fernley in 2006.
Hogg snatched the lead off the Verrazano Bridge and steadily moved away from his main rival, Daniel Romanchuk of the United States. Hug’s fifth title tied with Kurt Fearnley and Tatyana McFadden for the most wins in the wheelchair division. He completed a near-perfect 2022 with victories in four out of five other major marathons in Tokyo, Berlin, London and Chicago. He broke the course record in the last two.
“We had great conditions,” Hogg said on ESPN of the warm weather and calm winds. “I was trying to run a fast race and everything was fine.”
Scaroni won her first New York City marathon in 1 hour 42 minutes 43 seconds. She set a new lap record of 21 seconds, breaking the record set at McFadden in 2015.
Hug and Scaroni will receive $25,000 for their first entry, and each will receive another $50,000 for their entry into the course records.
Scaroni’s win comes after winning her first major marathon in Chicago last month. I made an early introduction and was never challenged. By midway, Scaroni was about three minutes ahead of Manuela Charr of Switzerland and Madison De Rosario of Australia, who won the championship last year.
Complete Scaroni’s Triumph a Returning for a year after being hit by a car last september during training. She returned to training this spring and has steadily regained her strength.
“I couldn’t ask to come back as strong as I am now, but every day I love what I do,” Scaroni said.
The Unusually high temperatures — In the low ’70s — she played in both races, said Fernley, who has been providing commentary for ESPN. He said the warmer weather helped wheelchair racers create friction between their gloves and the outside of the wheels they click on. The lack of a strong breeze also helped the runners at the start and on the bridges.
Romanchuk, who finished second, also broke the record at the Fernley track, finishing the race in 1 hour 27 minutes 38 seconds.
However, the hug was the undisputed winner. He won the race in 2013, 2016, 2017, and 2021, finishing one second behind Romanshuk in 2019. He won five of his six grand marathons last year, and Sunday’s win gives him five again this year. Hug also won four gold medals at the Tokyo Paralympics, including a second gold medal in the marathon.
Scaroni, 31, has podiumed 15 times in the Mayors’ World Marathon, and has now won two of them.
A month after winning two medals at the Tokyo Paralympics last year, she crashed into a car on the roads in Illinois and broke one of her vertebrae. In June, in her first race, she won the Mini 10K in world record time, then broke the world record of 5,000 meters on the track.
Scaroni, who grew up in Tequa, Washington and attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, finished third in the New York City Marathon in 2019.
