Wheelchair athletes and handbiker deliver thrilling races at the 47. BMW BERLIN-MARATHON 2021

Wheelchair athletes & handbiker back on the streets of Berlin – Swiss double victory for Manuela Schär and Marcel Hug in the wheelchair race – Second place for Vico Merklein from Berlin in the handbikers‘ race

Manuela Schär and Marcel Hug once again ensured a Swiss double victory for racing wheelchair athletes at the BMW BERLIN-MARATHON. For Hug it was already the seventh victory on the Berlin Marathon course, for Schär the sixth.

The handbike competition was won by the German Yvonne Pijahn and the Belgian Jonas Van de Steene. Enthusiastically, the rollis and handbikers celebrated their comeback in Berlin.

„It’s so nice to be here again and to feel the marathon atmosphere in Berlin,“ Manuela Schär was visibly moved after her race. For the wheelchair athletes and handbikder it was also the first road race with spectators after a long break.

Manuela Schär  (SUI) – Foto: SCC Events – Jiro Mochizuki

The Swiss (1:37:31h) reached the finish line with a clear lead over Tatyana Mcfadden (USA/1:38:54h), who improved her personal best. „Today it was partly windy, but generally flat courses suit me very well,“ said Mcfadden. Brazilian Aline dos Santos Rocha (1:41:39h) finished third. Merle Menje, who is only 16 years old, also attracted special attention as she finished fourth in her marathon debut. „My rough goal was to finish under 1:50 hours. I didn’t expect it to be so fast today,“ said Menje. There is hardly any time to recover for all the athletes: a start in London is already on the agenda next weekend as part of the Abbott World Marathon Majors.

„I was surprised that we were able to break away so early in a group of three,“ explained Marcel Hug of Switzerland. With Daniel Romanchuk (USA) and Brent Lakatos (CAN), a lead group initially formed in the first kilometers, but it increasingly fell apart by the halfway point of the course. Hug reached the finish line in 1:24:03 hours clearly ahead of Romanchuk (1:24:47h) and Brent Lakatos (1:29:54h).

German winner in the handbiker race
Highest tension until the end offered the race of the handbikers. None of the three German riders Yvonne Pijahn, Katrin Möller and Annett Zenker-Urban could break away on the course, so that the decision was only made in the final sprint:

Yvon Pijahn – Photo: Foto: SCC Events/André Fiebig

Here Yvonne Pijahn showed her sprint strength and won in 1:22:03 hours ahead of Katrin Möller and Annett Zenker-Urban (same time in 1:22:06h).

Also in the men’s field a trio was initially close together over large parts of the course: the Berlin local hero Vico Merklein, Jonas Van de Steene (BEL) as well as Joseph Fritsch (FRA).

Jonas Van de Steene (BEL) – Photo: Jiro Muchizuki

Van de Steene managed to distance himself on the second half of the course. He won in 1:01:40 hours clearly from Merklein (1:02:26 h) and Fritsch (1:02:37 h).

Source: SCC Events