Marcel Hug breaks own course record, wins 2023 Boston Marathon men's wheelchair race
BOSTON -- The "Silver Bullet" is the Boston Marathon champ once again. Switzerland's Marcel Hug won his sixth men's wheelchair crown in Boston on Monday, taking the race with a finish of 1:17:06 to break his own course record.
Hug took a lead early in Monday's race and never looked back. He built a nearly two-minute lead by the 10k mark and was ahead by over three minutes by the 15k mark. His lead over Sho Watanabe and Jetze Plat was nearly six minutes by the 25k point, and continued to grow from there.
Hug led by over 10 minutes at one point in the second half of the race and cruised to an easy victory. For much of the race, he was racing the clock to set a new course record.
He had a chance to break his own course record of 1:18:04 -- which he set in 2018 -- on his way to a 2021 Boston victory, but a wrong turn at the end cost him a chance to set the record. (It also cost him a chunk of change.) He finished at 1:18:11 to come up just short of the record.
Hug also won Boston in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2021. He didn't get a chance to defend his 2021 crown last year, as he withdrew from the race due to a medical reason.
On Saturday, Hug won the B.A.A. 5K in Boston, where he also set a record with a 9:52 finish.
Daniel Romanchuck, who won Boston in 2019, came in second behind Hug with a 1:27:45 finish on Monday. Jetze Plat placed third with a 1:28:35 finish followed by Aaron Pike at 1:30:30.
