NEW YORK (AP) — Manuela Schar finally upended four-time defending champion Tatyana McFadden to win the New York City Marathon women’s wheelchair race on Sunday, completing a Swiss sweep with men’s winner Marcel Hug.
Schar powered through the five boroughs in an unofficial time of 1 hour, 48 minutes, 10 seconds, taking the top spot after three straight runner-up finishes in New York. She also won the Boston and London marathons this year.
McFadden was seeking a record sixth career New York title but settled for second. The 17-time Paralympic medalist was hospitalized early this year with life-threatening blood clots but returned to win the Chicago Marathon last month.
Hug pulled away from Canada’s Josh Cassidy in the final miles to repeat as the men’s wheelchair champion and win New York for the third time.
It was the first time the wheelchair races were swept by competitors from same country.
The Swiss star with the chrome-plated helmet wheeled in an unofficial time of 1:37:17, beating Cassidy by more than two minutes. Hug won last year’s race by sixth hundredths of a second over Australia’s Kurt Fearnley.