BOSTON — Marcel Hug of Switzerland won his ninth Boston Marathon men’s wheelchair title on Monday, riding a tailwind to finish in an unofficial time of 1 hour, 16 minutes, 6 seconds. He missed breaking his own course record by 33 seconds.
Hug’s fourth consecutive win in Boston puts him into second place all-time in Boston men’s wheelchair history, behind only South African great Ernst van Dyk’s record 10 titles between 2001 and 2014.
American racer Daniel Romanchuk was second in 1:22:44, followed by Jetze Plat of the Netherlands in 1:24:13.
Eden Rainbow-Cooper of Britain won the women’s wheelchair race.
Hug jumped in front of the field quickly, building a 13-second advantage over David Weir of Britain three miles into the race. That lead grew to 55 seconds by the halfway point.
Since winning the Berlin Marathon in 2022, Hug has lost only one of the seven world major titles, when he finished second at the New York Marathon in 2024.
The race came on a clear morning with starting temperatures in the low 40s.
The fastest field in event history and ideal weather had runners expecting fast times in the 130th edition of the world’s oldest and most prestigious annual marathon.
The athletes arrived in Hopkinton with frost on the ground and temperatures in the 30s. It had warmed to 45 degrees (7 degrees Celsius) by the the time defending champions Sharon Lokedi and John Korir started the race, followed by more than 30,000 others.
It was the coldest starting temperature since 2018, when it was 38 degrees and raining. Last year, the thermostat was at 58 when runners set off.
