Catherine Debrunner Wins New York City Marathon Women's Wheelchair Title in 1:40:02

Catherine Debrunner of Switzerland won the women's professional wheelchair division of the TCS New York City Marathon on Sunday in 1 hour, 40 minutes, 2 seconds. It was her second New York title. Tatyana McFadden of the United States, a five-time New York champion, finished second in 1:48:28. Defending champion Susannah Scaroni of the United States was third in 1:48:32, according to the preliminary New York Road Runners results published by NBC Sports.

Debrunner took control of the race early and never gave it back. FloTrack reported that she reached 5K in 11:44 and stretched her lead past two minutes by 10K. She passed halfway in 46:52, ahead of her own course record pace, and was still ahead of that pace at 25K, which she reached in 58:02. At 35K she led McFadden by 7 minutes, 40 seconds, with Scaroni third. Her pace eased over the closing kilometres, but the lead was never in doubt through Central Park.

Thirty seconds outside her own record

The winning time fell 30 seconds short of the course record Debrunner set when she won in New York in 2023, 1:39:32. USA Today reported that she had built a lead of nearly two minutes after the first 10 miles and coasted home, finishing more than eight minutes ahead of McFadden. Madison de Rozario of Australia finished fourth in 1:53:06 and Eden Rainbow-Cooper of Great Britain was fifth in 1:55:51, according to the NBC Sports results list.

A record season behind her

Debrunner, 31, came to New York in record form. Running Magazine Canada reported that she broke her own world record at the Chicago Marathon last month, winning in 1:33:16 and taking more than a minute off the 1:34:16 mark she set in Berlin in 2023. The New York Road Runners athlete profile notes that she was born with a birth defect in her spine, took up wheelchair racing at the age of eight, and is coached by Arno Mul. She won on her New York debut in 2023 in the course record 1:39:32.

Race day across the five boroughs

The women's professional wheelchair division started at 8:02 a.m. Eastern on Sunday, two minutes after the men's wheelchair division opened the day. The course starts on Staten Island, crosses the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge into Brooklyn, runs through Queens and Manhattan, reaches the Bronx, returns to Manhattan at mile 22 and finishes in Central Park at 67th Street on West Drive. This year marks 50 years since the five borough course was first run on Oct 24, 1976. The published prize list sets first prize in the professional wheelchair divisions at 50,000 dollars.

Marcel Hug of Switzerland won the men's wheelchair race in 1:28:14. The professional open divisions started later in the morning, the women at 8:35 a.m. and the men at 9:05 a.m., and both were still on the course when the wheelchair results were confirmed, so no open division winners are reported here.