Madison de Rozario is celebrating again, after breaking a course record in the women’s wheelchair race at the London Marathon over the weekend, finishing at one hour, 38 minutes and 51 seconds.
The 29-year old Paralympic gold medallist edged past Manuela Schär of Switzerland by just one second, securing her second London Marathon win. Her first was in 2018.
“That was an intimidating field to be a part of,” de Rosario told reporters after the race. “You look around and see these three women you’re pushing with and thinking ‘these are the best athletes in the world’.”
“Cat won this race last year in a course record, Manuela’s been dominant for such a long time and Susannah’s come off the back of winning Boston by five minutes. So to win a sprint from them was amazing,” she added, referring to Swiss wheelchair racer, Catherine Debrunner, and last week’s Boston Marathon winner, Susannah Scaroni — whom de Rozario came second to.
During the ceremony accepting second place, de Rozario said: “For women’s sport, I couldn’t be more proud of every athlete in this room.”
“I think we get to use this platform to do something that’s so much more important than racing or running a play. We’re all doing that, and to be part of that right now, we’re jumping through hoops right now and those that come after us aren’t going to have to do that.”