10 Greatest Marathon Moments of 2023

As we look back on 2023, so many moments stand out as highlights. Six amazing races in six of the greatest cities in the world. Over 255,000 athletes took on 159.6 miles on three different continents, in ALL kinds of conditions! Picking 10 highlights was difficult; putting them in order was even harder, but we’ve done our best.

10: Catherine Debrunner’s late-season charge to the Series Title

This year's Women's Elite Wheelchair Series was a back-and-forth tussle between four of the biggest names in the sport. Switzerland's Manuela Schär was first out of the blocks, storming to victory in Tokyo. Schär  lead from the start to claim a course record and show that, having relinquished her series title to the American Susannah Scaroni a few months earlier, she was determined to regain her crown.

But that plan was to come undone in Boston after Schär was unable to finish and Scaroni overcame a mechanical issue to claim her first victory on Boylston Street, finishing over five minutes clear of Australian Madison de Rozario in second place.

Based on those two performances, we thought we were in for a titanic battle between 2022's best in class; however, a third combatant was about to enter the fray as De Rozario edged out the unfortunate Schär by mere seconds in a dramatic dash to the tape on The Mall. Just three races in, no one could predict a series winner!

Certainly, no one would have picked Catherine Debrunner at that point. The Swiss racer stormed to consecutive victories in Berlin and Chicago and finally completed the clean sweep of our fall races on a glorious day in Central Park at the TCS New York City Marathon.

Debrunner's time in Berlin of 1:34:16 was a world record over the distance, while her victory in Chicago was as tight as any that had come before it, seeing her edge out her rival for the series, Susannah Scaroni, by just two seconds. It meant that she headed to New York knowing that victory would be enough for her to secure the Series championship, which she did in some style, finishing more than eight minutes clear of her compatriot Schär and becoming the first woman to break 1:40 in New York.

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What we are seeing right now in women's elite wheelchair racing is truly phenomenal, with at least four outstanding athletes in contention to take next year's series. It promises to be an exciting battle, one that we can't wait to see unfold.