CHICAGO - Daniel Romanchuk (Mount Airy, Maryland), Tatyana McFadden (Clarksville, Maryland) and Susannah Scaroni (Tekoa, Washington) punched their tickets to the Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 based on results from the wheelchair division of the Chicago Marathon.
“This has been an incredible morning with this being the Tokyo 2020 qualifier,” Romanchuk said. “I’m having a difficult time finding the appropriate words to describe this feeling. It’s an honor to be named to the team and represent the U.S. at the Tokyo Games.”
Romanchuk qualified for the second Paralympic Games of his career after defending his Chicago Marathon crown in the men’s wheelchair division, finishing more than three minutes ahead of the second-place athlete. He recently became the first American man to win a World Marathon Majors title after winning four races in the series, which included becoming the first American man to win the New York and Boston marathons.
Seventeen-time Paralympic medalist McFadden secured her spot in the sixth Paralympic Games of her career after placing second in Chicago and the first U.S. female finisher. Earlier this season, McFadden finished the World Marathon Majors in second place. The third U.S. athlete to punch their ticket to Tokyo 2020 is two-time Paralympian Scaroni, who placed fourth in Chicago and fourth in the overall World Marathon Majors rankings.
In addition to their finishes at the Chicago Marathon, athletes qualified for Tokyo 2020 if they have also met both the minimum qualifying standard and the national team A standard.
Additional athletes from U.S. Paralympics Track & Field will qualify for Tokyo 2020 when the U.S. Paralympic Team Trials take place June 25-28, 2020 in Minneapolis.
All qualifications and nominations to the 2020 U.S. Paralympic Team are pending approval by the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee.