#APCTop20 - No.9: Tatyana McFadden completes first Marathon Grand Slam

Tatyana McFadden was already a multiple-world champion and Paralympic medallist in 2012. But it was a year later that she would take a place among the greatest Para athletes of all time.

In 2013, the US athlete did what no other man or woman, able-bodied or with impairment, had done before: win all four World Major Marathons in Chicago, London, Boston and New York in the same year.

As we approach the Americas Paralympic Committee’s (APC) 20th anniversary on 1 August, Tatyana McFadden’s success comes in at No.9 at the APC Top 20 Moments in History.

At only 15-years-old, McFadden won one silver and one bronze at the Athens 2004 Paralympic Games, only beginning to make a name for herself. Two years later, she claimed her first world title.

She added three silvers and one bronze to her Paralympic haul at Beijing 2008. 2011 was McFadden’s breakthrough year as she topped the podium four times at the Christchurch 2011 World Championships.

As a young but already experienced athlete, she took home her first three Paralympic golds at London 2012, before turning her attention to a would-be historical season.

In 2013, McFadden completed a marathon Grand Slam for the first time, a feat she would repeat in 2014, 2015 and 2016.

But far from feeling satisfied, she also won staggering six golds and broke one world record at the Lyon 2013 World Championships.

Looking for a new challenge, she took up cross-country skiing and, a year later, made it to the US team which competed at the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games, sealing one silver.

She won the Laureus Sports Award in 2015 and claimed other four golds and two silvers at the Rio 2016 Paralympics.

Considering McFadden is only 28 years old, many more great things can be expected from her in the upcoming years.