NYRR Media Center

Manuela Schär is an eight-time Paralympic medalist, 11-time world championships medalist, and three-time TCS New York City Marathon champion. Her most recent TCS New York City Marathon victory in 2019 was the third-fastest time in event history. Schär has made the podium in all 10 of her appearances at the TCS New York City Marathon, and is also a three-time champion of the United Airlines NYC Half.

She took home five medals from the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics—more than any other track and field athlete in Tokyo—winning gold in the 400 and 800 and bronze in the 1,500, 5,000, and the marathon. That year, she also won the Berlin, Chicago, Tokyo, Boston, and London marathons. In 2022, she won Boston again, and in 2023 she won Tokyo again in a course-record time of 1:36:43.

Schär won her first TCS New York City Marathon in 2017 after three consecutive runner-up finishes. She won her first of three consecutive Abbott World Marathon Majors series titles that year, helped by clocking what was then a world-best time of 1:28:17 to win the Boston Marathon, winning the London Marathon, and breaking the women’s wheelchair world record with a 1:36:53 victory at the Berlin Marathon.

On the track, Schär also owns a bronze medal from the Beijing 2008 Games and a silver and bronze medal from the Athens 2004 Games, and won four medals at the 2023 World Para Athletics Championships.

Schär has used a wheelchair since she was 8, when a playground accident paralyzed her from the waist down. She serves as an ambassador for Right to Play, an organization that helps children in disadvantaged countries take part in sports programs.