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Swiss sweep! Manuela Schar, Marcel Hug win wheelchair NYC Marathon

Manuela Schar of Switzerland holds up a flag after crossing the finish line first in the women's wheelchair division of the New York City Marathon in New York, Sunday, Nov. 5, 2017. (Seth Wenig / Associated Press)
Associated Press

NEW YORK – Manuela Schar finally upended four-time defending champion Tatyana McFadden to win the New York City Marathon women’s wheelchair race on Sunday, completing a Swiss sweep with men’s winner Marcel Hug.

Schar powered through the five boroughs in 1 hour, 48 minutes, 9 seconds, taking the top spot after three straight runner-up finishes in New York. She also won the Boston, London and Berlin marathons this year.

Schar beat her nemesis McFadden by nearly 3 minutes.

“Some feeling just made me attack and attack and attack. Finally, I got away,” Schar said, adding, “I’m still surprised.”

McFadden was seeking a record sixth career New York title but settled for second. The 17-time Paralympic medalist was hospitalized early this year with life-threatening blood clots but returned to win the Chicago Marathon last month.

Hug pulled away from Canada’s Josh Cassidy in the final miles to repeat as the men’s wheelchair champion and win New York for the third time.

It was the first time the wheelchair races were swept by competitors from same country.

The Swiss star with the chrome-plated helmet wheeled in an unofficial time of 1:37:21, beating Cassidy by more than two minutes. Hug won last year’s race by sixth hundredths of a second over Australia’s Kurt Fearnley.