- The Chicago Marathon served as the official Brigid Kosgei Stuns With New World Record on Sunday.
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- Romanchuk won the men’s wheelchair division with a time of 1:30:26, while Manuela Schär of Switzerland took the women’s crown with a time of 1:41:08.
Three Americans will be on their way to represent Team USA in the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games: Daniel Romanchuk, Tatyana McFadden, and Susannah Scaroni all qualified for the team at Sunday’s Chicago Marathon.
Molly Seidel PRs at the 2023 Chicago Marathon Brigid Kosgei Stuns With New World Record. The top two American finishers in the men’s and women’s race would earn the athletes a ticket to next year’s 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, as long as they had met both the minimum qualifying standard and the national team A standard either at the race or prior.
With the big prize on the line, the country’s top Americans lined up alongside some of the world’s best in what turned out to be a thriller in both races.
In the women’s race, three Americans—Tatyana McFadden, Amanda McGrory, and Susannah Scaroni—battled it out right from the start. While competing with each other for spots at Tokyo, they also had to face Swiss competitor Manuela Schär, who opened up a slight lead around the halfway mark.
However, the three Americans remained on her tail in second half of the course, as Schär ran away with the race to claim her second Chicago title in a row with a time of 1:41:08.
The trio of Americans were only minutes behind, battling it out for the two spots left on the podium. It came right down to the final stretch, as they logged all identical times through the 40K mark.
Around the final two turns, McFadden jumped in front of Scaroni, who fell behind as McFadden and McGrory charged up the hill together. McFadden pulled out ahead, clinching second place—and a spot at Tokyo—with a time of 1:45:22. Scaroni charged late and chased down McGrory to the line, where a photo finish was needed to determine who crossed first.
Both finished with a chip time of 1:45:29, but it was McGrory fending off Scaroni’s late charge who was declared the third-place finisher.
Despite the late win, Scaroni will take the second Team USA spot in Tokyo, as McGrory had not hit the Paralympic A standard prior to the race and did not hit it today.
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On the men’s side, there was a solid pack throughout the race, but only two Americans fought at the top of it, including reigning Chicago and Boston marathon champ Daniel Romanchuk.
The 21-year-old phenom has dominated the wheelchair divisions at every marathon major in the last year, and Chicago was no different. After staying with the pack through the halfway point, he made his move and left the pack in the dust as he cruised to victory with a time of 1:30:26 to take not only the men’s race title, but the top American men’s spot on Team USA.
Behind him was a familiar face on Team USA’s Paralympic squad. That was Aaron Pike, of Park Rapids, Minnesota, who has competed in both the summer and winter games multiple times. At the 2016 Rio Paralympics, he finished 10th overall.
In Chicago, Pike stayed steady with the pack throughout the race and never went below second among Americans. He traded his position throughout the race, and in a final sprint among the pack behind Romanchuk, Pike finished seventh overall with a time of 1:33:34.
Pike; however, did not qualify for Team USA’s Paralympic team as he, like McGrory did not meet the Paralympic A standard for the marathon at or before the race. Therefore, there is still one opening on the men’s side, which will be chosen at a later date.
Rounding out the podium for the men was Great Britain’s David Weir who finished in 1:33:31 and South Africa’s Ernst Van Dyk with a 1:33:32.
Two 75-Year-Olds Set Marathon Records Runner’s World and Bicycling, and he specializes in writing and editing human interest pieces while also covering health, wellness, gear, and fitness for the brand. His work has previously been published in Men’s Health.
