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TCS NYC MARATHON

November 6, 2016

New York, New York

THE MODERATOR: We'd like to welcome and present our wheelchair division champions, Marcel Hug of Switzerland, Tatyana McFadden of the United States. Congratulations so much.

Marcel, could you talk about your race today, especially the finish. It was a photo finish. Last four years have been decided by less than a second. When you won here before, it was also a very close race. Were you prepared for that?

MARCEL HUG: Yeah, it was a really tough race today. The uphills were really, really tough. Kurt Fearnley was very strong in the uphill, nearly killed me during the uphills. So it was tough. Also, the wind was really tough.

But I tried to follow Kurt Fearnley on the uphill, and also I shared the lead with him because it was a big wind. So I think we both thought that we'd make it in a finish sprint, as we did in the last few marathons. We had a lot of finish sprints, Kurt and I. So I was not surprised.

But I was not sure to win in the sprint because I was really tired, and Kurt was really strong today. I was only sure when I crossed the finish line.

THE MODERATOR: I saw you moved him out a little bit at the end there. That was a nice move by clearly the stronger competitor.

Tatyana, this was your fifth TCS New York City Marathon victory and I believe your 20th victory in Abbott World Marathon Majors races. I believe you dropped Manuela Schar at what point? And tell us about how your day went.

TATYANA MCFADDEN: Yeah, it was a really great race day. I knew that the weather was going to be great, so that always helps, that it was going to be dry, that it was going to be around the 50s, high 50s. That was perfect weather racing condition right there.

But I knew the competition was going to be tough, and I was quite nervous the night before and this morning. The competitors that were here were the same exact girls that were in Rio. So I knew that I had a lot of work cut out for me. So I just took that first climb hard and that downhill pretty fast. It took up to mile 6 before Manuela, Amanda, Susannah caught me. We just kept switching off the pace line and hit another climb hard at mile 12 and again at mile 16.

Mile 16 is my favorite climb, going up that bridge and then back down and around. It was great to end the season on such a high note. Coming from the Paralympics, winning six medals there, and then winning Chicago and New York. My 5th Chicago, 16th Major Marathon in a row. It's been just an amazing journey.

THE MODERATOR: It was nice to see four women racing together for quite a while in the race before you dropped them.

I'd like to ask anyone if they have questions.

Q. Thank you, congratulations to you both. This is for Tatyana. 16 in a row, 4 grand slams -- what's next? Another winter Olympics? What are we thinking?
TATYANA MCFADDEN: A vacation is definitely next. I've been just kind of going from Rio, haven't really had time off. So it's been really, really difficult. I'm just trying to get through all the training sessions, especially right after Rio, you're kind of not really recovered. So it's been really, really tough. So I'm happy to have some down time and to kind of repair my body a little bit.

We'll see about Winter in the future.

Q. Marcel, where does this put you in the Swiss pantheon of sports heroes? Are you ahead of Roger Federer now?
THE MODERATOR: Or right around Heinz Frei.

Q. Oh, I forgot about him.
MARCEL HUG: Thank you. It's a great thought to be like Roger Federer, but, no, I am not. He's a great, great athlete, and it's a different world. But I think I had a great, great year, great season. I think maybe the best season so far in my sporting career. I'm so happy.

So happy to finish my season with this victory in this beautiful marathon in New York. It's just great. As Tatyana said, now we have a vacation and some rest, and really looking forward for it.

Q. Marcel, how do you explain that so many of your finishes seem to be so close? I mean, this one was remarkably close. Chicago was even closer.
MARCEL HUG: Yeah, I think it shows that we have an incredible high level with so many good athletes. They can work together, and it's very difficult, very tough for an athlete to break away, especially Kurt and I, I think. We are about the same level. Kurt Fearnley is a little bit stronger on the uphill, and I am a little bit stronger in the sprint. So I could follow him always and then have a good sprint in the end.

Yeah, I think that's just because we have a great level. No athlete is super human or something special, just many, many great athletes.

Q. Tatyana, when you're doing such long races, I would imagine it's a combination of having to stay competitive but also staying loose. What are you thinking about when you're racing a marathon?
TATYANA MCFADDEN: It definitely gets tough. I mean, it's easier definitely racing with a pack of women because you kind of set a pace off of each other, but it gets harder when you're by yourself. So it was really interesting wearing the heart rate monitor today, and it kind of -- I got the results back, and it told me I was averaging 15 miles per hour today, which is amazing for the course, especially with the climbs and the down hills, and it was really quite windy.

So I'm really happy that's the pace I ended up going, and that's the pace I really needed to kind of keep at and keep motivated, especially when you're entering into Central Park, it's hard because you're almost there but you're not quite there yet. You just find new ways. Okay, I'm going to climb the hill this speed or really take this downhill a little bit quicker, and just kind of keeping your mind going as long as possible until you cross that finish line.

THE MODERATOR: We're going to present the winners of our 2016 TCS New York City Marathon wheelchair champions, Marcel Hug and Tatyana McFadden, with a champions timepiece, the Tag Heuer connected watches. Here to present the awards is Killian Muller, president of Tag Heuer North America.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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