Marcel Hug, Catherine Debrunner each win 2026 New York City Marathon wheelchair division titles
One Swiss star squeaked out a win over a U.S. competitor, while another dominated the field in Sunday morning’s TCS New York City Marathon wheelchair race.
Marcel Hug won one of the closet men’s wheelchair marathons in Abbott World Marathon Majors series history, while Catherine Debrunner wheeled away for the fifth-largest women’s margin of victory ever.
For the second straight year, the Swiss teammates shined brightest in New York City.
This one took everything Hug had.
Hug finished Sunday’s New York City Marathon men’s wheelchair race in 1 hour, 28 minutes and 14 seconds — just edging out the U.S.’ Daniel Romanchuk (1:28:15) for the title.
The 40-year-old Hug and 28-year-old Romanchuk traded the lead throughout, but Hug held off Romanchuk’s final attempts to pass from behind him at the end inside Central Park. Great Britain’s David Weir (1:35:38) placed third.
Hug breathed a long, long sigh of relief a few seconds after crossing the finish afterwards.
“I know that the finish line very close. He was very strong today, obviously. I was trying to attack to go away from him, especially in the second half. But, yeah, because someone [Romanchuk] is always with me,” Hug says. “l almost always have to expect him to be very strong, especially here in New York. And you can see that it’s slowing down here and, yeah, he tries really, really hard to make a way to attack. And then, second half, OK, maybe I have to prepare for a fast finish. And yeah, I was not sure how this goes for me to do things like that. Yeah, very, very happy that I can make it.”
This year marked the New York City Marathon’s 50th anniversary of being run in all five boroughs — Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx and Manhattan.
Meanwhile, Hug’s victory marked his second straight New York City men’s wheelchair marathon title and his eighth wheelchair men’s wheelchair division championship overall. He’s now won five of the last six New York City men’s wheelchair marathon division titles.
It’s been a dominant year.
Hug recorded his sixth consecutive Abbott World Series Marathon championship and won titles in six of the seven Abbott World Series men’s major wheelchair marathons this year, taking Tokyo (1:21:09), Boston (1:16:06), London (1:24:13), Berlin (1:23:38), Chicago (in a course-record 1:21:34) and New York City. Ironically, it was Romanchuk who prevented him from completing the full sweep — as Romanchuk won the Sydney men’s wheelchair marathon (1:26:50) in Australia.
Meanwhile, Debrunner turned in a way more dominant run Sunday. Debrunner took the lead early and didn’t let up. She finished in 1:40:02, well ahead of U.S. teammates Tatyana McFadden (1:48:26) in second and Susannah Scaroni (1:48:32) in third. McFadden, 37, is a five-time women’s wheelchair division champion, while Scaroni, 35, won the women’s wheelchair division last year.
It marked the 31-year-old Debrunner’s second New York City women’s wheelchair division title, as she secured the 2026 Abbott World Series Marathon championship.
While Hug and Romanchuk crossed the finish line neck and neck, Debrunner wheeled in all alone. Just before she crossed the finish line, she smiled and pushed herself one final time. Once Debrunner’s wheelchair stopped, she bowed her head down, as a volunteer draped the red Swiss flag over the top of her pink shirt. In her first New York City win in 2023, she also finished more than 8 minutes ahead of her closest competitor.
After taking March’s Tokyo and April’s London championships, Debrunner cooled off before wheeling to three consecutive women’s wheelchair division major marathon titles — Berlin (1:35:01), Chicago (in a world-record 1:33:16) and New York City — over the last month and a half.
“For me, it really means a lot to win the series,” Debrunner says. “And I thought it was really quite emotional to come back to our historic event. Yes, and with that, there are so many different challenges and very happy, very proud to do something again, and especially during this time.”
On the men’s side, other U.S. finishers included Miguel Jimenez-Vergara (1:39:38) in seventh and recent University of Illinois graduate Evan Correll (1:40:37) in eighth. For the women, the University of Illinois’ Hannah Dederick (2:06:06) placed ninth and Emelia Perry (2:09:01) was 10th.
2026 TCS New York City Marathon Nov. 1 At New York City
Men’s Professional Wheelchair Division
Position Name Country Time
1. Marcel Hug Switzerland 1:28:14
2. Daniel Romantic United States 1:28:15
3. David Weir Great Britain 1:35:38
4. Lito Anker Netherlands 1:35:39
5. Aaron Pike United States 1:37:06
6. Ludwig Malter Austria 1:38:53
7. Miguel Jimenez-Vergara United States 1:39:38
8. Evan Correll United States 1:40:37
9. Johnboy Smith Great Britain 1:40:39
10. Patrick Monahan Ireland 1:40:39
Women’s Professional Wheelchair Division
Position Name Country Time
1. Catherine Debrunner Switzerland 1:40:02
2. Tatyana McFadden United States 1:48:28
3. Susannah Scaroni United States 1:48:32
4. Madison De Rozario Australia 1:53:06
5. Eden Rainbow-Cooper Great Britain 1:55:51
6. Hoda Elshorbagy Egypt 2:00:09
7. Vanessa Cristina de Souza Brazil 2:00:33
8. Patricia Eachus Switzerland 2:01:58
9. Hannah Dedrick United States 2:06:06
10. Emelia Perry United States 2:09:01