Marcel Hug

Marcel Eric Hug (; born 16 January 1986) is a Paralympic athlete from Switzerland competing in category T54 wheelchair racing events. Hug, nicknamed 'The Silver Bullet', has competed in four Summer Paralympic Games for Switzerland, winning two bronze medals in his first Games in Athens in 2004. In 2010 he set four world records in four days, and at the 2011 World Championships he won a gold in the 10,000 metres and four silver medals, losing the gold in three events to long term rival David Weir. This rivalry continued into the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, where Hug won two silvers, in the 800m and the marathon. In the 2013 World Championships Hug dominated the field, winning five golds and a silver. During the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio, Hug was one of the most consistent competitors in the T54 class, winning two golds, in the 800m and marathon, and two silvers medals, in the 1500m and 5000m.

As well as numerous World and European track medals, Hug is also a world class marathon athlete, setting the course records for the Boston, Chicago, New York and London Marathons as well as winning the men's elite wheelchair event at the Berlin (2011, 2012, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025), New York City (2013, 2016, 2017, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2025), London (2014, 2016, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026), Chicago (2016, 2017, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025), Tokyo (2019, 2021, 2023, 2026), Boston Marathon (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026) and Sydney (2025).

Career history

Early career Hug was born in the municipality of Pfyn in Switzerland in 1986. Born with spina bifida, Hug grew up on a farm, the youngest of four brothers. As a young child, he met Swiss wheelchair racer, and Hug's sporting idol, Franz Nietlispach, beginning Hug's desire to take up athletics. He failed to medal in the 400m and 5000m but finishing third in both the 800m (1:32.66) and 1500m (3:05.48) where he won his two bronze medals. In the 400m he lost the gold to British racer David Weir, beginning a rivalry between the two athletes that would define many of their races on the track and in marathons over the following years.

2011 also saw Hug win his first major city marathon event when he came first in the 2011 Berlin Marathon.

The 2011 World Championships set the scene for the build-up to the 2012 Summer Paralympics, held in London. Hug entered five events, reaching the finals in all of them. In the 400m he qualified in second place in his heat, but finished fifth in the final. In the 800m he came through his heat in second place to David Weir, and the result was repeated in the final, Hug taking silver to Weir's gold. In both the 1,500m and 5,000m he finished just outside the medals in fourth place.

On 13 April 2014, a week after winning the Paris Marathon, Hug entered the London Marathon, beating his long-time rival Weir into second place to take the men's wheelchair title.

After finishing fourth in the last two attempts, on 20 April 2015 Hug finished first in the Boston Marathon, beating ten-times winner Ernst Van Dyk into second place by over six minutes. Later that year Hug competed in the 2015 IPC Athletics World Championships in Doha, with commentators believing the major medals would be contested between Hug and Weir. Instead the longer events were dominated by Thailand's Rawat Tana, who took gold in both the 1500m and 5000m. Hug finished fifth in the 1500m but managed to win a silver in the 5000m. Hug also entered the 800m, where he finished third to collect his second medal of the games. In 2016 Hug won two elite city marathon events in the space of a week. On 18 April Hug won his second Boston Marathon with a time of 1:24.01, and followed this six days later with his second London Marathon victory. Marcel Hug near halfway point of the Boston Marathon in 2018. In 2016 Hug qualified for his fourth consecutive Paralympics, travelling to Rio de Janeiro where he took part in four events at the 2016 Summer Paralympics. He won medals in all four events, two silvers in the 1500m and 5000m races and his first Paralympic gold medals, one in the 800m and then on the last day he also won the men's T54 marathon. After Rio, Hug continued to compete on the World Marathon circuit, and in October he won his first Chicago Marathon, beating Kurt Fearnley in a photo finish. In November, in a repeat of a photo finish against Kurt Fearnley, he won his second New York City Marathon.

In October 2022, Hug won the 2022 London Marathon, with a time of 1:24:38, two seconds ahead of American competitor Daniel Romanchuk. The following year, Hug returned for his fourth Chicago Marathon where he surpassed his previous record with a time of 1:22:37. In April 2025, Hug won the Boston Marathon for the eighth time.