Daniel Romanchuk Wins 2022 Boston Marathon Men's Wheelchair Race
BOSTON (CBS) -- After finishing second last October, Daniel Romanchuk added another Boston Marathon win to his resume on Monday. The 23-year-old from Illinois won the 2022 Boston Marathon men's wheelchair race with relative ease, taking an early lead and never giving it up.
It's the second Boston victory for Romanchuk, who also won Boston in 2019. That morning, Romanchuk became the youngest men's wheelchair champ at the age of 20. He was also the first American man to win the wheelchair race since 1993.
On Monday, Romanchuk won with an official time of 1:26:58. He led for 23 miles of the 26.2-mile race, and owned a lead of over four minutes over Aaron Pike of Minnesota with just a few miles to go. Pike came in second, nearly six minutes behind Romanchuk, with a 1:32:49 finish. Johnboy Smith of the United Kingdom came in third with a 1:32:55 finish.
Romanchuk, who was born with spina bifida, won in 2019 with a finish of 1:21:36. He finished second in the 2021 Boston Marathon last October, just one day after he won the 2021 Chicago Marathon.
"That was certainly a unique schedule back in the fall," Romanchuk told WBZ-TV's David Wade after Monday's race. "It's nice to be back in Boston on Patriots' Day. It's hard to put it into words."
Last year's winner, Marcel Hug, pulled out of the race Monday morning for an undisclosed reason. Hug, a five-time Boston champion and course record-holder, won the B.A.A. 5k race Saturday, setting a new course record for that race as well.
