Wheelers Romanchuk, Schär repeat

For American wheelers, the 42nd Bank of America Chicago Marathon meant something extra: It was also the 2020 U.S. Paralympic Team Trials Marathon. Chicago last hosted in 2015.

‘‘Every athlete wants to go to a Paralympics Games and represent their country,’’ defending men’s champion, American Daniel Romanchuk, said. ‘‘It is just a great honor.’’

Sunday was more of a coronation of the dominance of both Chicago defending champions, Switzerland’s Manuela Schär and Romanchuk, than anything.

Romanchuk immediately took the lead, but the pack came back. At 13 miles, he out-wheeled everyone to repeat.

His time of 1 hour, 30 minutes and 26 seconds topped the closest competitor, Great Britain’s David Weir (1:33:31), by more than three minutes.

‘‘The race started at a medium pace with a lot of movement,’’ Romanchuk said. ‘‘Halfway, I tried to break away from the pack and hold it until the end. At that time, I was feeling good.’’

He used a pre-race routine of riding the course in a cart to learn landmarks and road conditions to set a race plan.

Schär also repeated by outwheeling the pack and finishing in 1:41:08.

‘‘Really glad that the day turned out really nice,’’ she said. ‘‘I expected it to be cooler. I expected it to be a tactical race because it was the trials. I don’t like to come down to the finish sprint. That hill attacked me I don’t know how many times.’’

Schär knows well the impact of the hill right before the finish. It partly explains her long history of coming close in Chicago before winning last year. She finished second four years in a row.

Americans Tatyana McFadden (eight-time Chicago champion), Amanda McGrory and Susannah Scaroni finished second to fourth, respectively.

Aaron Pike (sixth), who trains with Romanchuk, was the only other American to finish in the top 10 on the men’s side.