U of I alum Susannah Scaroni wins Boston Marathon for 2nd time
BOSTON (WCIA) — University of Illinois alum and Paralympic champion Susannah Scaroni can add another major marathon win to her resume.
Scaroni was in Boston on Monday to compete in the 129th edition of the Boston Marathon. The Associated Press reported that 18 miles into the race, Scaroni opened up a 40-second lead that she continued to build up over the rest of the race.
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Scaroni crossed the finish line with a time of 1:35:20, two minutes and six seconds faster than Catherine Debrunner of Switzerland, who finished in second.
IL Race Weekend welcoming new faces from cancelled event
Photo courtesy of the Boston Marathon's Facebook page
Scaroni graduated from the University of Illinois in 2014 but still trains with the university's wheelchair track team. Since then, she's won the wheelchair race of all three U.S. marathons regarded among the World Marathon Majors — Chicago, New York and Boston, as well as London, Berlin, Tokyo and new for 2025 — Sydney.
Scaroni won the Chicago and New York Marathons in 2022 and New York again in 2024. She won the Boston Marathon in 2023 but was unable to defend her title the following year due to injury.
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One year later, she's back on top in Boston.
Her win this year adds Scaroni to an exclusive club of Illini women's wheelchair racers who have won the Boston Marathon multiple times. Jean Driscoll won seven consecutive Boston Marathons from 1990 to 1996 and an eighth in 2000, while Tatyana McFadden won four in a row from 2013 to 2016 and a fifth in 2018.
Christie Clinic Illinois Race Weekend offering free entries through donation
Outside of the annual majors, Scaroni won the 2013 and 2014 Los Angeles Marathon women's wheelchair races, and she's also won Paralympic medals. Scaroni won a gold and bronze medal in the 2020 Paralympics and last summer in Paris, she won a silver and three bronze medals.
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Three of those medals won in Paris came in events where Debrunner won gold.
Closer to her alma mater, Scaroni competed in and won the 2023 and 2024 wheelchair half-marathons of the Christie Clinic Illinois Race Weekend.
Scaroni may have taken first place in Boston on Monday, but she wasn't the only Illini wheelchair racer there.
McFadden was competing again, and she finished the women's wheelchair race in fifth place with a time of 01:48:52. In the men's wheelchair race, Daniel Romanchuk came in second place with a time of 01:25:58. He finished four minutes after Marcel Hug of Switzerland won his eighth Boston Marathon.
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