Tatyana McFadden wins fifth-consecutive Chicago Marathon

Brenton Tse/The Daily Illini

Portrait by Brenton Tse The Daily Illini

By Lauren Mroz

Tatyana McFadden continued her dominance on the women’s wheelchair course at the Bank of America Chicago Marathon Sunday morning, winning the women’s wheelchair division for a fifth straight time. The University of Illinois graduate set a new course record, finishing in 1 hour 41 minutes 10 seconds. She broke her own course record of 1:42:35 from 2014.

McFadden beat second-place finisher Manueal Schar by 46 seconds. With the victory, she qualifies for the 2016 Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro.

McFadden’s won her first major marathon in Chicago in 2009 and is now one victory away from her third grand glam title — wins in Boston, Chicago, London and New York.

She became the first athlete — able-bodied or otherwise — to win all four major marathons in the same year in 2013. She repeated the task in 2014. The 26-year old looks to repeat the grand slam in 2015 with a win at the TCS New York City Marathon on November 1.

McFadden also has 11 medals as a four-time U.S. Paralympian in track and Nordic skiing.

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Other current and former Illini were scattered throughout the top 10.

Chelsea McClammer finished in third place, nearly eight minutes after McFadden, and also qualified for the U.S. Paralympic team.

Amanda McGrory finished fourth, Susannah Scaroni finished sixth, followed by Katrina Gerhard in seventh and Arielle Raisin in eighth.

McFadden, McClammer and Gerhard were first in their respective age divisions. Former Illini Josh George finished third in the men’s wheelchair division.

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@MrozLauren