Paralympics champion Madison de Rozario has made history by becoming the first Australian woman to win the New York marathon.
The 27-year-old Perth-raised wheelchair star crossed the Central Park finish line in a time of 1:51:01 to clinch victory in what was her third attempt at the world-famous marathon event.
She won by an astonishing three minutes ahead of former New York winners Tatyana McFadden of the US and Switzerland’s Manuela Shar.
“This is unreal,” de Rozario 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.”
De Rozario won the London marathon in 2018. She’s won multiple medals at both the Commonwealth Games and the Paralympic Games.
Earlier this year she won her first Paralympics gold medal by taking out the women’s wheelchair marathon, and also won the 800 metres in a record time, as well as the 1500m event.
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De Rozario only confirmed her participation in the New York marathon a fortnight ago, having been unsure of travelling to the United States given the COVID-19 travel restrictions in her home state of New South Wales.
Once those restrictions eased she decided to make the trip, and it paid dividends. She will pocket $25,000 for winning the marathon.
The victory makes her the first Paralympics marathon champion to win New York in the same year.
“I’ve been wanting to break into this part of my career for three years,” De Rozario said.
“The marathon is such a big challenge in terms of how you train for it. There’s such a huge difference between staying with a pack, or getting to the podium or even staying strong throughout the distance.
“But to back up a win. I’ve never been consistent. To come away with both New York and the Paralympics, shows how much work we have put in.”
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