Canadian Brent Lakatos and Dutch athlete Nikita Den Boer captured the London Marathon men’s and women’s pushrim titles on Sunday, October 4.
The two races started simultaneously on the 19-loop course in St. James Park; taking place inside the London Marathon’s biosecure bubble, the fields were small (10 men and six women).
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In the men’s race, a group of six—Lakatos, David Weir, Marcel Hug, Sho Watanabe, Jordi Madera, and Kota Hokinoue—stuck together for the majority of the time. Many took the lead spot throughout the race, but it was Lakatos who made a strategic move to be in front for the final two laps.
“This probably ranks just behind my Paralympic gold,” Lakatos said after the race. “It’s a great race. The London Marathon is the biggest marathon there is, so to come here against Dave and Marcel, it’s amazing.”
Despite five competitors right on his tail into the final turn, the T53 athlete from Canada was able to sprint away for his first world marathon major win with a time of 1:36:04. Weir and Hug took second and third, respectively, with Hug just beating Watanabe to the line.
“After the second or third sprint where I pulled away, I don’t even know how in far front I was,” Lakatos said. “After that sprint, I was like, ‘I might have a chance here.’ And I did.”
Lakatos is the first Canadian to be atop the London Marathon podium in 10 years.
In the women’s race, we saw a smaller, but similar, battle between Manuela Schär, who had won nine straight marathon majors prior to not competing in Tokyo back in February, and Den Boer, who was looking for her first major marathon victory.
The two traded the lead throughout but were never out of reach until around the final 5K when Den Boer made a move that Schär could not match.
By the final lap, Den Boer was well ahead of Schär and was able to finish in 1:40:07—a 12-minute PR. Schär finished second in 1:41:29. Rounding out the podium was American Jenna Fesemyer with a time of 1:52:16.
“My coach said, ‘Go for it!’ So I just [went] for it,” Den Boer said after the race. “Then Manuela was spinning around, so I thought I had to go on my own. Then I looked back and saw I’m alone now, so I didn’t have to go faster. Then I heard I had a new national record, so I’m really, really happy.”
Den Boer is the first Dutch athlete, men or women, to win the London Marathon wheelchair race.
Drew covers a variety of subjects for Runner’s World and Bicycling, and he specializes in writing and editing human interest pieces while also covering health, wellness, gear, and fitness for the brand. His work has previously been published in Men’s Health.
