Marcel Hug, the Silver Bullet.

detours brought to you by Sports and spokes the magazine for wheelchair sports and recreation without a doubt Marcel H has been one of the most dominant racer for the past decade winning just about everything on both the track and the road at this year's Boston he rolled a simply unbelievable 1 hour 15 minutes 35 seconds welcome Marcel let's let's go ahead and Jump Right In hello thank you for having me hey Marcel it's uh it's been a steady grind I mean the past few years you've just been going between the Abbot Cup Series New York City Marathon Boston Marathon you're you're all over the place I mean how the heck are you doing this and how's your body holding up heading into Paris oh yeah it was um the last three years was really crazy was very good very successful so I'm very happy very satisfied and very grateful for for the success and uh grateful that my my body uh makes um yeah goes with with this um all this and uh helps me to to perform like this and uh yeah it goes very well I'm still very motivated uh motivated in my my daily training uh to compete very high on High level I train very hard so yeah you know you know really quick let me jump in with you know I notice you're you know it's not like you're an old guy but you're 38 years old so you're probably touching on that era where you're starting to think about injuries is anything in particular happening to your body that's becoming more of a challenge now yeah of course I feel my my age a little bit uh sometimes I need a little bit more of recovery uh but yeah luckily I had no uh major injury uh in the past uh only well the crash in the Boston Marathon which I hit my shoulder and the and the ribs but beside of this I had no major injury so I'm very happy yeah so let's go ahead and talk about that the last time you and I connected up you were on the Boston Marathon course you got taken off course you missed the course record now here we are talking this year you go around the fire station curve heading up Heartbreak Hill and you plow into a big snow fence that had to hurt yeah it was uh a crazy moment um a little shock but um yeah I was just totally in my focused and then I just went went up again uh because I knew I'm I'm on the course record so I had not to had no time to think about what happened I just was lucky that uh the race chair was still okay and then uh at the finish of course uh I felt the pain in the shoulder and and and the rips but uh I think when I look back and see the the video from the crash I'm I'm very happy that nothing verse happen yeah it's very strange when you're out there on the course and you get focused sometimes you just lose people go how the heck did he lose attention well sometimes that just happens but it looked like he came into the corner a little bit hot but anyway you know I found this pretty interesting quote that you gave it said you know we're talking about Boston once again which is you know as as we all know is one of those Premier races to win you said you know I have to learn to have more courage for the downhills because the speeds are sometimes scary well they are you go right out of the gates bang gun goes off you're instantaneously going fast for quite a long time what kind of speeds do you hit on Boston uh actually this year I had a new personal uh speed record with uh 78 km per hour um I don't know in in miles but uh yeah did a little bit of a conversion and uh I'm coming up with about 46 M an hour which is pretty darn fast it is yeah is it is it thrilling to go that fast or is it nerve-wracking do you get concerned uh not anymore um because um now I have some experience with this downhill and it's a straight downhill so but you have to be uh very focused uh and you what you do do um steer uh properly and uh yeah should you should try not to hit any holes and yeah yeah I know the roads can be unpredictable before we leave Boston I just want to mention that uh this year in 20124 was your seventh win on the Boston course and four of those times were course records when you reflect back on the seven races that you did at Boston that you won is there one that you reflect on and think a little bit more fondly of some some particular thing that happened is it is it the records is it the speed is it the crowds which one of those stands out and why um difficult to say I think definitely the ones with the course record were uh always uh special um I think also the moment uh when I missed the the turn and uh and then yeah unfortunately Miss there the course record also so uh one Marathon which I won the Boston Marathon I won a few years ago was also very special when the weather condition was really tough it was very cold and and a little bit rainy so that one was maybe the toughest Marathon I I ever did oh I know the cold and the rain can be really brutal Marcel you know your countrymen have had an enormous amount of success at the Boston Marathon looking back I could see you know there's a couple of Swiss Legacy Champions Hines fry two times Boston 15 time par Olympic gold medalist fron nebach Five Boston marathons 14 gold medals at the par Olympics as a kid you know I remember you out there with your little silver skateboard helmet and you know nobody knew who the heck you were but you know here you are you're you're basically the king of the sport now so which one of these guys or which one of the people in from your country of Switzerland which one of them was influential to you why and how oh there were really as you said there were many great athletes in Switzerland and I always looked up to them um I never had an athlete like like an idol or something like this but I I looked up to them and and watched them and uh when I started as a a junior as a small kid we had not so many uh junior races so uh we I had to start to compete against Elite athletes like France or hin and and some some else so um yeah so they were a great inspiration and I tried to catch up with them and come as close as possible and then one day I I I I would I took them and yeah well you were certainly chasing the best I mean th those guys were just two of the best and and wow I mean and you guys have really produced an enormous amount of talent out of your country um I think people would be really interested in knowing what exactly does a training day I mean it's not even a training day for you it's got to be so specific uh you know you taper you get ready for races in in different ways you get to a point where you're focusing on speed but what is a what does a typical day look like for you with training is it two times a day does it include weights what kind of mileage are you doing per week um yes uh I train 6 days a week so one day off usually Sunday when it's not a competition and then yeah I train usually two days uh two times a day sometimes I have three session uh Saturday maybe I only have one session but usually have two sessions and mostly in the racing chair on the track sometimes on the road but more on the track and um yeah a lot of uh gym also three times a week um sometimes I do also different kind of sport just to yeah do something different like swimming or in in in Winter I do Nordic skiing um yeah um and the training session lasts uh around 90 minutes and uh it do from the kilometers in a training it's very uh different it depends on what's what's the goals what's the training but it can uh be up to 300 350 kilom a week um so yeah it's it's different we'd like to take a minute to thank our sponsor Sports and spokes magazine for nearly 50 years they produced stories on iconic athletes performing at the top of their game given generational coverage of sports dating back to the 1970s and they've shown the way with exciting and Timeless magazine cover shot to stay on top of all the latest news from the world of high performance adaptive Sports go to sportsand spok.com sports and spokes the magazine for wheelchair sports and recreation Marcel you know speaking of all that training six days a week working so hard in and out of the gym you got to do something for fun do you have a dog do you have a cat do you have a girlfriend do you like to cook what's what what do Marcel who do do for fun yeah unfortunately I don't really have a hobby um and I also don't have a pet or something and uh but I what I like is the being in in the nature um as you know I I grew up on a farm so uh I very like to be in the nature on the lake we have here in notv we have the lake we have the mountains closed so that's very nice and I really like to do H camping uh so I have I have a camper so sometimes the weekend or in Holiday I go for camping yeah nice you you know it it seems to me as I've looked at what's gone on within the sporting world of chair racing um it's it feels to me and and it's no knock on any of the any of the other Racers but it seems to me you're chasing the clock at this point like there's really I don't I don't I'm not saying that nobody can keep up with you but nobody's keeping up with you and you're winning so are you chasing the clock at this point or are there people other Racers that you grown more concerned with yeah I think it's it's both um of course sometimes I go um against the clock um if I see there is a possibility to break a course record or something like this and the weather condition is good and I feel good so of course I I go for the course record but um of course there are some other great athletes who are able to beat me um especially uh on the track I think but also in the marathon So Daniel romanchuk for example he is a very strong athlete and uh he's I think he one day he will beat me again for sure um but I hope it's not not today or tomorrow hopefully not at par Olympics but um hopefully not in Paris it it will be one day uh for sure and um there are some other great athletes also they were also working hard and they're working on their materials and their racing chair to improve to be faster and so yeah yeah so let's uh let's go ahead and address Daniel uh Daniel romanchuk uh not too long ago at the Desert Classic he ran a and I'm using 800 M as sort of an example but he he ran a 128 and to the best of my knowledge from everything I've looked at it seems like you've run a 127 in the 800 m is is that correct for starters uh yes my best world record is 127 right so 127 128 if that's so I look at the 800 meters as being the place where you guys are starting to get to where you're meeting up there's not that much distance between you is uh is that still I mean that's the shortest race you do is that is that a concern to you that people are starting to get that close yeah I think um as I said the 800 m is my shortest distance on International level um and it's my my weakest uh distance I would say because uh my start is it's it's not bad but it's not the best in the field so for example Daniel has a better start and the start is is very important to have a good position after the first 100 me meter so yeah I think um the 800 m is is really really open for many athletes to win uh a medal and yeah um you know I was just looking at a couple of your other records so500 I I have 254 5,922 and the marathon we already mentioned a 1 hour 15 minutes which one of those events do you look at and say the this is the most beatable time in this this is the one I would like to shatter a record on uh well I I would say the marathon is possible to go faster and also the 5,000 m I think of course also 800 1500 but uh I think this two distance the 5,000 marathan is is maybe the most uh possible distance you know I think it would be interesting for people to uh get an idea of when you're going that fast and I'm going to talk miles per hour just because I can't do a conversion really quick you're probably going into the corners and say an 800 or a five 15 or or 5,000 you're going in at probably 21 22 miles an hour what does it feel like with that push out as you're going around the turn turn is it is it difficult is there a lot that goes into that kind of navigation I mean it feels amazing to go with with the high speed on the corner but uh of course there is H usually there is a some drift drifting I don't know how to say in English but uh so you have to to adjust the steering a little bit sharper inside um but it also changed a little bit from from the the Improvement of the chairs so the the chairs now are stiffer they are fully carbon made and so um there's not much drifting anymore um yeah but the the bands the curves they are very important very challenging especially when you're doing pack racing as well Marcel how much of uh of success as a racer is physical versus mental and how how do the two work together um it's difficult to say in in uh percentage which is how many but uh both of course are very important um especially I think on a very high level as we have in a in a par Olympic final there are the athletes they are all physically very strong and then in the end I think the the mental power can make the the difference in the end and of course also during the the whole year during the training I think the the athlete who can keep up the motivation and keep up the hard work and yeah it's that atlete can be a successful or the most successful athlete and and that needs uh uh mental strength expectations going into Paris expectations um I firstly I expect to have some great par Olympic Games great atmosphere hopefully hopefully uh some uh yeah many spectat um would be nice if the stadium would be full and yeah for me I hope it will be a great experience um really a good organization so for me it's it's very special because the Paris is is quite near from Switzerland so now time changes or climate changes so yeah it will be think a good good par Olympics great hey Marcel I want to thank than you very much and wish wish you the best of luck moving forward with the games I'll certainly be watching and I know the rest of the world will too so go ahead and have a great time and tear it up thank you very much [Music] [Music]