NYC Marathon 2026: Marcel Hug Wins the Wheelchair Race in 1:28:14, the Closest Finish in Event History, as 60,000 Runners Take the Course
The first champion of marathon Sunday is crowned: Switzerland's Marcel Hug edged Daniel Romanchuk by 1.13 seconds for his eighth New York wheelchair title, while the open fields - and New Jersey's runners among more than 60,000 starters - are still racing the five boroughs.
Marathon Sunday has its first finish-line story, and it is a classic. Marcel Hug of Switzerland won the men's professional wheelchair race at the TCS New York City Marathon in 1 hour, 28 minutes, 14 seconds on Sunday morning, according to USA TODAY's live coverage read by this desk, overtaking Daniel Romanchuk in the final 100 meters to win by 1.13 seconds - the closest victory in the event's history. It is Hug's eighth New York wheelchair title, adding to wins in 2013, 2016, 2017, 2021, 2022, 2023 and last year. Romanchuk, who missed the 2025 race after a shoulder injury, led or matched Hug for most of the 26.2 miles and could not hold him at the line.
The race around them is the biggest New York has staged. The 2026 marathon marks the 50th anniversary of the five-borough course, first run on October 24, 1976, and more than 60,000 runners from 140 countries are expected on the course, against a record 59,226 finishers in 2025. The professional women's open field started at 8:35 a.m. Eastern and the professional men at 9:05, with five amateur waves following through 11:30 a.m. - which means that as this story is filed, the open championships are still being decided on the road to Central Park, and thousands of New Jersey runners who rode the start buses from MetLife Stadium and Rahway are somewhere between Staten Island and the Bronx. Start conditions were cloudy and calm in the mid-40s, with highs near 60 expected by mid-afternoon.
For New Jersey, the day's second half is a travel story. The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge remains closed for the race, and Port Authority crossing restrictions run through the day, as this station reported in its crossings file this morning; runners' families heading home to New Jersey this afternoon should expect the bridges and the Hudson crossings to stay slow until the course clears and the crossings fully reopen. The open-division winners will be reported by this desk when they are official - not before.
