NEW YORK (AP) — Marcel Hug of Switzerland won the New York City Marathon men’s wheelchair race for the fifth time, shattering the course record Sunday and tying Kurt Fearnley for most-ever victories in the men’s wheelchair race.
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Hug finished the 26.2-mile course that goes through all five boroughs of New York in 1 hour, 25 minutes and 26 seconds to break the previous mark of 1:29.22 set by Fearnley of Australia in 2006. Hug, who also won the race last year, earned $50,000 for besting the course record. He crossed the finish line more than 2 minutes ahead of second-place finisher Daniel Romanchuk of Illinois.
The 36-year-old Hug, nicknamed the “The Silver Bullet,” has been on quite a streak, winning four gold medals at the Tokyo Paralympics last year as well as the Tokyo, Berlin, London and Chicago Marathons in 2022.
Hug won on an unseasonably warm day — with the temperature expected to soar into the 70s and possibly challenge the record for the hottest race since the marathon moved to November in 1986. While that might not be good for the 50,000 runners, Hug said Thursday that warm conditions are ideal for wheelchair racers.
This was the first time that the marathon was back to full capacity since the pandemic.