USA’s Tatyana McFadden Wins Women’s Wheelchair Division of Boston Marathon Again

Tatyana McFadden breaks the tape on Boylston Street on her way to winning the Women's Push Rim Wheelchair division of the 118th Boston Marathon in Boston, Massachusetts April 21, 2014. (Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images)

2103 winner Tatyana McFadden won the women’s wheelchair division of the 118th Boston Marathon Monday morning, after a tough mid-race battle with Russia’s Tatiana Petrova Arkhipoa and Japan’s Wakako Tsuchida.

Arkhipoa led a pack of 11 at the 8-mile mark. McFadden took the lead at 12 miles, then lost it to Tsuchida at 13 miles. By the 15-mile mark McFadden had retaken the lead and left her competitors behind.

McFadden, 25, was born in a St. Petersburg Russia orphanage with spina bifida, which left her paralyzed below the race. U.S. Health Department official Deborah McFadden adopted her and brought her to the U.S. where she started competing in sports at age eight.

McFadden has 11 paralympic medals, three gold, and ten golds, a silver, and a bronze in the IPC World Championships.