Schär ready to defend her crown against revived McFadden

Schär took McFadden’s course record last year in 1:39:57, knocking over a minute off the previous best time. But after missing last year’s race for health reasons, McFadden is back to challenge her Swiss rival, who also won the Berlin, New York and Tokyo over the last 12 months, putting her in an unbeatable position in the Abbott World Marathon Majors Series, which concludes on Sunday.

But Schär would rather forget last Monday’s Boston Marathon where she succumbed to the awful weather and was forced to drop out for the first time in her career, leaving McFadden to take her fifth Boston crown.

“I am feeling a lot better than a few days ago,” Schär said. “It was really bad in Boston and I never thought that would happen. It was heart-breaking, for the first time in my life, having to drop out.”

McFadden was second in Tokyo behind Schär and believes she is almost back to her best after a turbulent year. From 2012 to 2016, she was undefeated in London and won 13 marathons in a row on the circuit. But she missed London last year after operations to remove blood clots, so was pleased to reclaim her Boston title five days ago.

“It’s been a really tough year,” said McFadden. “It takes a long time to recover from blood clots, and it hurts. At least I’m back in training and my health is on the up.

“The coach trained us well for Boston. We had to wear trash bags underneath our clothes, we were slipping and I knew Manuela would fly down the first part. It was a really good race, even though the weather was terrible. I’ve faced worse times in my life.”

McFadden, who celebrates her 29th Birthday on Saturday, hopes Sunday’s race will be the best present.

Her American teammates Amanda McGrory, who won in 2009 and 2011, and Susannah Scaroni will also challenge for podium spots, while Briton Jade Jones is excited about Sunday’s event after placing fifth last year in a personal best.

Now 22, the Teessider has just returned from great success at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, where she won gold in her other sport, para-triathlon, as well as a bronze in the T54 marathon. She closed the Games as Team England’s flag bearer.

“Training for triathlon has been my focus but I recorded a personal best last week at the Games,” she said. “So the triathlon seems to be helping me improve in the marathons.

“I have a love-hate relationship with the London Marathon,” she added, referring to her failure to finish in 2015 and 2016. “I was just happy to finish last year but I am looking forward to Sunday as I really like the course.”

Australia’s Madison de Rozario, who took gold at the Games, also joins the women’s line-up, along with 2016 Paralympic champion, China's Zou Lihong.