Switzerland's Manuela Schär and American Daniel Romanchuk won their fourth and second wheelchair titles in dominant fashion.

Schär hit halfway a minute and 34 seconds ahead of the field, only to extend the gap substantially to more than five minutes after the Newton hills. It was her fourth win since 2017, and increased her lead in the Abbott World Marathon Majors Series XIV standings.

"It's a difficult course," said Schär. "It's challenging. It doesn't help when you are just a good race in the flat, in the

downhills. You have everything here. You get at a certain point when you need that extra push from the crowd."

Romanchuk let Hiroki Nishida and Pike do the early leading before pouncing and taking control in Wellesley. Defending champion Marcel Hug of Switzerland withdrew due to medical reasons on race morning, yet that didn't alter Romanchuk's plan to attack the race course. He'd

average a pace of 3:19 per mile from Hopkinton to Boston.

After his triumphant win, Romanchuk celebrated with Gerry and Gwena Herman, his youth coaches who first introduced the sport of wheelchair racing to him as part of their Bennett Blazers program. Romanchuk presented the pair with Team USA's Order of Ikkos awards for coaching excellence right on the finish line.

"My youth coaches are from Boston and they were both here today," he said. "The motto of their program is to teach kids they can before someone tells them they can't."

Moments later he summed the morning up best: "It's just amazing to be back here on Patriots' Day."

SWISS SENSATION

With her fourth Boston Marathon title, Manuela Schär now only trails Franz Nietlispach and Marcel Hug for the most wins by a Swiss athlete in race history. Nietlispach and Hug each have five victories a piece.

Barbara Huebner, a former reporter for the Boston Globe, has been writing about the Boston Marathon for almost 30 years.