Perth Paralympian Madison de Rozario Becomes The First Aussie Woman To Win The New York Marathon

Feeling a little bit of #PerthPride this morning with news that Perth Paralympic athlete Madison de Rozario continued what’s been a stellar 2021 by winning the women’s wheelchair race in the New York Marathon! De Rozario held off two previous champions in Tatyana McFadden and Manuela Schär to add another trophy following her medals earlier this year at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics.

After being unsuccessful in previous attempts at the world renowned, 42km New York Marathon, de Rozario stormed home almost three minutes ahead of McFadden to record a time of 1:51:01. “This is unreal,” she said. “New York is one that I’ve never had amazing results on.

“It’s been my least successful event, and my least successful consistently. But the two years we weren’t travelling, we buried ourselves in base work and strength work, and it’s paid off not just here but in Tokyo, it’s so nice to see.”

Earlier this year at the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo, the 27-year-old had a breakout tournament, winning gold medals in the Women’s 800m T53 and the Women’s Marathon T54, along with bronze in the women’s 1500m T54. She became just the second female Australian Paralympian after Jan Randles to win gold in the marathon at the Paralympic Games.

Switzerland’s Marcel Hug won the men’s wheelchair race for the fourth time, while Albert Korir and Peres Jepchirchir of Kenya won their respect men’s and women’s races.

Image credit: Getty (Elsa)