Marcel Hug wins 2026 Boston Marathon men’s wheelchair division, cruises to ninth win

The Swiss “Silver Bullet” once again proved unstoppable in Boston.

Marcel Hug won the men’s wheelchair division of the Boston Marathon for the ninth time. Finn Gomez/The Boston Globe

April 20, 2026 | 10:24 AM

1 minute to read

Looking as if he was out for nothing more than a training exercise, an unruffled Marcel Hug emerged alone on Boylston Street to win yet another Boston Marathon in a time of 1:16:06.

The 40-year-old Swiss champion notched his ninth win in Boston, doing so by a healthy margin yet again (he led by more than six minutes at the final time check near the finish). Daniel Romanchuk of the United States finished second with a time of 1:22:44.

He led, in the words of television commentators, “from the starting gun” and didn’t look back.

Hug has immense experience in Boston at this point. Having initially won in 2015, he has compiled years of dominant wins in the ensuing time. Even when he’s experienced actual drama — like in 2024 when he accidentally crashed into a barrier — the unflappable Hug has responded with victory (he set the course record that year of 1:15:33).

His race in 2026 was less dramatic, as he simply attained the early lead and built on it with seemingly every push.

With nine wins all-time, he now trails only South African legend Ernst van Dyk, who won in Boston an astounding 10 times from 2001 through 2014.

Hug’s wins also only add to Switzerland’s all-time total in the wheelchair division. The mountainous European nation has accounted for 21 wheelchair wins in the Boston Marathon since the divisions began in the 1970s.

Hayden Bird is a sports staff writer for Boston.com, where he has worked since 2016. He covers all things sports in New England.

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