Canada’s Brent Lakatos has dominated wheelchair racing’s sprint distances for the better part of a decade.
On Sunday, the 40-year-old from Dorval, Que., pulled away from the field in a sprint finish down The Mall at St. James Park to win the London Marathon.
Lakatos, drenched from racing in drizzling rain, finished in one hour 46 minutes four seconds.
The 2018 Berlin Marathon champion has won seven Paralympic medals and 11 world track titles in every distance between the 100 and 800 metres.
Lakatos, who lives and trains in Longborough, England, with his wife and Paralympian Stephanie Reid, is an engineering grad from the University of Texas, and competed Sunday in an aerodynamically-improved racing chair he’d made with the help of a 3D designer.
The Canadian denied Great Britain’s David Weir a ninth London Marathon win. Weir finished two seconds behind Lakatos.
In 2019, Lakatos won two gold medals and a silver at the World Para Athletics Championships for a total of 18 podium finishes, including 13 gold, in his career.
Thank you to everyone for the amazing support. My Twitter has never blown up like this before! Huge thanks to <a href=”https://twitter.com/LondonMarathon?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@LondonMarathon</a> for all their work putting on a safe race in these crazy times. I won!!!! 😀 <a href=”https://t.co/w0dbXIXfaH”>https://t.co/w0dbXIXfaH</a>
—@BrentLak
Lakatos is hoping to make a fifth Summer Games appearance at the Tokyo Paralympics next summer.
WATCH | Lakatos races to 12th career World Para gold medal in 2019:
Montreal’s Brent Lakatos won the men’s 100-metre T53 event at the 2019 World Para Athletics Championships in Dubai on Friday in a time of 14.59 seconds. It’s Lakatos’ 12th World Para gold medal. 4:51
“I absolutely love racing,” Lakatos told Athletics Canada before Sunday’s race. “I have been looking forward to the London Marathon all summer.”
Lakatos also said his training had increased leading into Sunday’s event.
“My training has been going quite well recently, which has given me a lot of confidence. When my confidence is high, I believe that I can take on the world and win.”
