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Women’s Wheelchair Preview: McFadden seeking further glory

Triple Paralympic champion Tatyana McFadden broke the course record on her 24th birthday to win her first London Marathon title last April just six days after bagging the Boston Marathon crown. She promptly dedicated her win to all those affected by the Boston Marathon bombings.

McFadden went on to dominate the 2013 wheelchair racing scene. She won a record six gold medals on the track at the IPC World Championships in Lyon last summer, and last autumn added the Chicago and New York Marathon titles to her list of achievements to become the first athlete, disabled or otherwise, to win four major marathons in a single year.

This winter, she swapped her racing chair for sit-skis and duly won a silver medal in the 1 kilometre cross country skiing event at the Sochi Paralympic Winter Games.

Among McFadden's opponents this year will be three talented US teammates, inlcuding the London 2012 Paralympic champion, Shirley Reilly, and the 2009 and 2011 London Marathon champion, Amanda McGrory, who was a close second a year ago.

Wakako Tsuchida is the fastest woman on paper and the five-times Boston winner will be looking to regain the London title she won in 2010. The Japanese racer recently won the Tokyo Marathon for the seventh year in a row.

Paralympic bronze medallist Sandra Graf will be aiming to repeat her 2008 victory after finishing third last year, while her Swiss colleague Manuela Schär makes her London Marathon debut after winning the World Championships marathon last summer.

Shelly Woods will again fly the flag for Britain. The Paralympic silver medallist could only finish fifth last year but she was a commanding winner in 2012 and will be pushing for her third victory this time.

Woods will be joined by fellow-Briton Jade Jones, an 18-year-old three-times London Mini Marathon winner who now steps up to the senior event for the first time.

Nine of the leading women's wheelchair competitors in this year's London Marathon will be taking part in the Boston London Wheelchair Challenge, a contest to find the best racer over two of the world's top marathons. The 2014 Boston Marathon takes place on Monday 21 April.

Tatyana McFadden and Shelly Woods will both appear at a press conference at the Tower Hotel, London, on Friday 11 April.

Click here for further details.

Click here to see all the 2014 Virgin Money London Marathon start lists.