Eighth wonderful win awaits Weir at his favourite race
On Sunday, seven-times London Marathon winner David Weir will defend his title, lining up against the world’s best para-athletes at the Virgin Money London Marathon. Weir will face Paralympic, World and Commonwealth champions as he goes for an eighth victory.
The six-times Paralympic champion hung up his British vest last year after an illustrious career, choosing to concentrate on road races. Retiring from the track is not a decision he regrets, saying today that he’s enjoying the new focus that training and racing as an individual has brought him.
Since his impressive seventh London victory in 2017, the 38-year-old has taken part in The Vitality Big Half in March, where he came second, and the Paris Marathon in the French capital last week, where he picked up a puncture at mile 21 but managed to finish the race, placing second behind Japan’s Hiroki Nishida. He was disappointed with the result, as he felt on form, especially now that he doesn’t have the additional pressure that a heavy track season can place on para-athletes.
Weir is looking forward to putting that form to the test on Sunday, when he’ll once again take on the event that he says is “in my blood”. He won the Mini London Marathon seven times as a junior, with his first senior victory over the full distance in 2002. The Surrey athlete recalls his 30 years’ commitment to the event with fondness, especially the crowd support.
“I love the race”, Weir said. “The wheelchair race has moved on so much; it’s now part of the Abbott World Marathon Majors. We all feel like professional athletes, not just wheelchair users.
“It’s my town, so I’ll have a few friends there on Sunday and a few thousand on the streets of London cheering for me too.”
“I’m more motivated than I was last year,” he continued. “I feel mentally and physically stronger than I felt after Rio. I don’t miss the track – the intense training straight after the marathon – at all.
“It was a lot of pressure to deliver; people put a medal around your neck before you’d even taken part. I really enjoy just racing for myself.”
With forecasters predicting warm weather for Race Day, Weir confirmed that the heat won’t cause too much concern for the para-athletes. An earlier start and the breeze they feel when racing at up to 35mph will help. The brighter weather outlook will certainly suit the para-athletes better than last Monday’s Boston Marathon conditions, which were cold, wet and windy, causing some of the wheelchair athletes to drop out.
Triumphant in Boston on Monday, despite the challenging conditions, was Switzerland’s Marcel Hug, the winner of the London Marathon in 2014 and 2016. The 32-year-old is equally at home on the track as the road. He is also guaranteed to win Series XI of the Abbott World Marathon Majors competition, which concludes on Sunday. He will retain the title he took in the inaugural Abbott World Marathon Majors Wheelchair Series last year.
Hug, known as the ‘silver bullet’ thanks to his racing helmet, will line up as a top contender, especially after missing out to Weir in last year’s sprint finish, where he finished just one second behind the Briton.
“Of course, I want revenge for last year,” said Hug today, “but I’m really happy David provides competition in the marathon. It’s great that we try to be better than the other.”
The London men’s course record of 1:28:57, clocked in 2009, is held by Australia’s Kurt Fearnley. He successfully defended his title in 2013 and since then has been second in 2016 and third in last year’s memorable sprint finish.
Fearnley, like Weir, has retired from representing his country, choosing the recent Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast as his swansong. The 37-year-old retired on home soil in style, taking gold in the T54 marathon. A week later, he is in London to join what is, he believes, the best field yet.
“It’s been a big month,” said Fearnley. “There’s something quite intense about a home Games, whether it’s Commonwealth, Worlds or Paralympics; they’re a lot more exciting. I’m a little fatigued, but thrilled to get my first race post-representing my country under my belt.”
Fearnley shares Weir’s love of the event and tiredness has not kept him away.
“I’m not giving up on London,” he says. “It’s made a lot of ground in the wheelchair race over the last five years in particular. I love London, New York, Chicago, Boston so much that it would almost be irresponsible not to do them because they’re such an enjoyable part of my life.
“I love the Abbott World Marathon Majors; they’ve been coming on stronger and stronger so I plan on being a part of the races for the foreseeable future.
“It’s the best field I’ve ever seen in London,” Fearnley continued. “There’s Dave [Weir], Marcel [Hug] and about four Japanese athletes who are incredibly strong. This is the first time I’ve hit London and think that I will go home feeling quite pleased if I make the top 10 because the field is Paralympic level.”
The Japanese athletes Fearnley talks about includes Kota Hokinoue, who was second in Berlin last year, Sho Watanabe, who beat Hug in Tokyo in 2017, and Hiroyuki Yamamoto, this year’s Tokyo winner. The 2015 Virgin Money London Marathon winner Joshua George of the USA and South African’s Ernst van Dyk could also feature in Sunday’s top finishers. While British competition comes from Team England’s silver and bronze Commonwealth medallists Johnboy Smith and Simon Lawson, who have just returned from the Gold Coast.
