Tatyana McFadden made it back-to-back wins to start the first ever World Marathon Majors Wheelchair Series when she beat Manuela Schar of Switzerland to the finish line by just one second. These two had gone 1-2 in Boston as well but Schar was a lot closer this time. Amanda McGrory finished fourth to make it two Americans in the top five. It was the second straight top five for McGrory who was fifth in Boston. Susannah Scaroni was seventh with Chelsea McClammer in eighth.

On the men’s side James Senbeta was the top American in fifth, just like in Boston, while Aaron Pike was seventh, Joshua George 17th, and Brian Siemann was 24th.

Over in the elite women’s category only Sara Hall from the US was competing and finished 12th. Ruben Sanca competed in the men’s marathon and was 32nd overall beating several of the elite runners.

The next World Marathon Major is not until Berlin on September 25th.

Previous World Marathon Majors Coverage:
London Preview

Tatyana McFadden made it four straight at the Boston Marathon on Monday as she joined Louise Sauvage of Australia with four wins. Three others have won it more often so McFadden still has a ways to go to set some real history but she’s off to a great start in the first ever Wheelchair World Marathon Series with 25 points in the first event. Also finishing in the top eight were Susannah Scaroni (fourth), Amanda McGrory (fifth), and Chelsea McClammer (eighth). On the men’s side the top American was James Senbeta who finished fifth while Aaron Pike was eighth.

Among the runners the US did slightly better among the women as Neely Spence Gracey was the top finisher in ninth place with Sarah Crouch just behind her in 11th. Zachary Hine was the top American man in tenth while Ian Burrell was 13th.

The next World Marathon Major is on Sunday in London, a tight turnaround for those who ran on Monday in Boston.

Previous Boston Marathon Coverage:
Preview

Monday is the 120th running of the Boston Marathon. The race, once dominated by US athletes, has become headlined by the Ethiopian and Kenyan runners who have won 23 of the last 25 on the men’s side and 17 of the last 19 on the women’s side. An American man, Meb Keflezighi, won in 2014 ending a streak of 31 years without an American male champion. It’s perhaps no surprise that Keflezighi was originally from Eritrea, a neighbor of Ethiopia, and moved to the US at age 1. The last US woman to win the Boston Marathon was Lisa Larsen Weidenbach in 1985.  The US hasn’t had success in the men’s wheelchair either, Jim Knaub in 1993 the latest, but they have won fourstraight on the women’s side with Tatyana McFadden winning the last three.

Monday’s Boston Marathon is also the start of Series X of the World Marathon Majors. The contest awards points to the top 5 of the marathons in Tokyo, London, Berlin, Chicago, Boston, and New York City. Series X will end next year at the Boston Marathon (the same city starts the series one year and ends it the next year, getting counted twice).

Only one American man and one American woman registered points in Series IX. Luke Puskedra finished fifth last year in the Chicago Marathon notching a single point and finishing the series in a tie for 23rd. Desiree Linden was fourth in the Boston Marathon last year and ended up 19th with the four points from that finish. On the wheelchair side of things this is the first year a wheelchair series will be held concurrent with the regular series.