Daniel Romanchuk was at a loss for words Monday evening.
“It’s been quite a morning in many ways,” he said. “Too many things are on my mind.”
Romanchuk, who grew up in Mount Airy, can be forgiven after winning his second Boston Marathon title in the wheelchair division. Monday’s victory in a time of 1 hour, 26 minutes, 58 seconds at the 126th Boston Marathon occurred on the heels of him capturing the 2019 championship. Fellow American Aaron Pike was second in 1:32:49, followed by Great Britain’s Johnboy Smith in 1:32:55.
“It certainly is an incredible experience,” Romanchuk said. “My youth coaches [Gerry and Gwena Herman], who are the coaches of the Bennett Blazers in Baltimore, they grew up in Boston, and they have so many stories of the Boston Marathon. So I grew up hearing all of those, and it’s always great to be in Boston, especially back on Patriots’ Day. They were actually here this morning. So that was really cool.”
In the women’s race, Switzerland’s Manuela Schar won her second straight Boston crown and fourth overall, crossing the line in 1:41:08. She was followed by American Susannah Scaroni in 1:46:20 and Australian Madison De Rozario in 1:52:48.
The 23-year-old Romanchuk led for 23 miles of the 26.2-mile course, besting a field that didn’t include defending champion and five-time Boston winner Marcel Hug, who withdrew hours before the race for unspecified reasons.
“That was a little sad to hear,” Romanchuk said of Hug’s absence. “Just praying for a quick recovery so that he can get back to racing.”
Romanchuk said Hug’s sudden withdrawal did not alter his plan for the race.
“I think my approach to the race was pretty much the same,” he said. “It was pretty much a time trial. Boston is a great place to put in a good time if the conditions are right. Conditions weren’t great this morning, but they certainly have been a lot worse.”
Romanchuk estimated that Monday’s victory by almost six minutes translates into a gap of about two miles. He admitted that winning by such a large margin was not what he had envisioned.
“From a few miles in, there was a pack of five or so,” he recalled. “Because I’m a slightly better climber than a lot of the guys that were in the pack at that time, I kind of took the lead on one of the smaller hills and kind of separated from most of the groups.”
Romanchuk previously won the Boston race in 2019 when he became the first American since 1993 to win the title. He finished third in the New York Marathon in November and second in the first fall edition of the Boston event last year. He also won the Chicago Marathon in October, a day before finishing second in Boston.
Romanchuk won the men’s T54 400-meter wheelchair race at the Tokyo Paralympics last year. He finished in 45.72 seconds, just beating Athiwat Paeng-Nuea of Thailand, who finished second in 45.73 seconds.
“This class [T54] is so competitive. It could be anyone’s race on any given day,” Romanchuk, who was born with spina bifida, said after the race. “It went very well today. I got off the start line pretty fast and had a good acceleration and just tried to hold the tough speed.”
Romanchuk also won the bronze medal in the men’s marathon T54 event and narrowly missed the podium in 5,000-meter race, placing fourth by just 0.14 seconds.
Romanchuk sounded almost bashful about his run of success over the last three years.
“I don’t think I’ve ever really dreamed of a lot of this stuff happening,” he said. “It’s really just by going day by day and doing the best I can at whatever it is — whether that’s school or training or anything. Just doing the best and concentrating on smaller things and knowing that over the long term, they will add up.”
Romanchuk said he had not yet had much time to reflect on his latest accomplishment.
“I’m looking forward to spending some time with some more family,” he said. “My sister [Kathryn] and brother-in-law will be driving through the area at some point. So I’ll be looking forward to spending some time with them.”
Schar led the women’s field throughout. Her win comes on the heels of the 37-year-old’s victories in Berlin in September and London in October.
Associated Press contributed to this article.
