Daniel Romanchuk

Daniel Romanchuk

Near the half-way mark of Romanchuk's 2019 Boston Marathon victory
Personal information
Born	(1998-08-03) August 3, 1998 (age 26) Mount Airy, Maryland, U.S.
Years active	2012–present
Height	5 ft 8 in (173 cm)
Sport
Disability	Spina bifida
Coached by	Adam Bleakney
Achievements and titles
Paralympic finals	2016
Medal record Paralympic athletics Representing  United States Paralympic Games 2020 Tokyo 400 m T54 2024 Paris 5000 m T54 2020 Tokyo Marathon T54 2024 Paris 400 m T54 World Championships 2019 Dubai 800m T54 Parapan American Games 2015 Toronto 5000m T54

Daniel Romanchuk (born August 3, 1998) is an American Paralympic athlete who competes primarily in wheelchair racing events. He won the Chicago Marathon on October 7, 2018. Less than a month later, he made history as the first American to win the men's wheelchair race at the New York City Marathon, becoming the youngest winner in the event's history.^[1] He subsequently won the New York City Marathon race again in 2019 and 2024.

Romanchuk followed up these wins with a win at the Boston Marathon on April 15, 2019. He became the first American man to win Boston's wheelchair division since 1993.^[2] With his victory at the London Marathon in April 2019, Romanchuk also won the World Para Athletics Marathon Championships title.

Romanchuk was born in Mount Airy, Maryland with spina bifida, a birth defect in which there is incomplete closing of the backbone and membranes around the spinal cord. When he was 2, his parents enrolled him in an adaptive sports program linked to the Kennedy Krieger Institute in nearby Baltimore. He participated in his first track meet at age 6, but also took part in other sports, including archery, sled hockey, and softball. In track events, he set age-group records and took part in national competitions at an early age.^[3] He is of Ukrainian descent.^[4]

In the winter of 2014, Romanchuk's mother Kim encouraged him to focus more on track in an effort to make the 2016 Paralympic team. He made the team at age 18, and competed in every track event in Rio, from the 100m to the 5000m.^[3]

In 2021, he won the gold medal in the men's 400 metres T54 event at the 2020 Summer Paralympics held in Tokyo, Japan.^[5] He also won the bronze medal in the men's marathon T54 event.

Romanchuk entered and finished the Baltimore Marathon, his first, at the age of 14.^[6] In April 2018, he placed 3rd in the London Marathon.^[7]

In October 2018, Romanchuk won the Chicago Marathon with a time of 1:31:34; he beat defending champion Marcel Hug by one second.^[8] Less than a month later, he became the first American winner and youngest winner in the history of the New York Marathon's wheelchair event, again defeating Hug (who had won in 2016 and 2017), and again by just one second.^[7][9]

In 2019, Romanchuk won the Boston Marathon in 1:21:36. He became the youngest ever winner of that race, as well as the first American to win Boston since 1993.^[10] In April 2019, he won the London Marathon with a time of 1:33:38.^[11] In 2019 he also won the Chicago Marathon and he qualified to represent the United States at the 2020 Summer Paralympics held in Tokyo, Japan. He won the bronze medal in the men's marathon T54 event.^[12][13]

In October 2022, Romanchuk placed second in the 2022 London Marathon, with a time of 1:24:40, two seconds behind Hug.^[14]

In November 2024, Romanchuk secured his third victory in the men’s wheelchair division of the New York City Marathon, finishing 5 seconds ahead of David Weir and completing the race in a time of 1:36:31.^[15] He had previously won the race in 2018 and 2019.^[16]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Daniel Romanchuk.

• Daniel Romanchuk at Team USA (archive April 29, 2020)
• Daniel Romanchuk at the International Paralympic Committee
• Daniel Romanchuk at IPC.InfostradaSports.com (archived)
• Daniel Romanchuk at the IPC Tokyo 2020 website Archived September 24, 2021, at the Wayback Machine
• Daniel Romanchuk at the Paris 2024 Summer Paralympics (alternate link)