David Weir, a six-time Paralympic champion, has announced his retirement from Great Britain competition.
The 45-year-old confirmed his decision after finishing fifth in the men’s T54 marathon on Sunday morning in Paris.
Weir won his first Paralympic titles in Beijing in 2008 before winning four gold medals on home soil at London 2012. He is also a six-time world champion over different distances from 100m up to 5,000m.
Paris 2024 was a seventh Games for Weir after making his debut aged 17 in Atlanta in 1996. He retires having won 10 Paralympic medals overall.
Weir, who has won the London Marathon a record-breaking eight times, intends to continue racing in major marathons around the world starting with Berlin later this month.
“I’m probably the oldest in that field today so to come fifth, I should be proud of myself,” he told Channel 4 after crossing the line in a time of one hour, 33 minutes and 27 seconds.
“That will be my last international. This is my last race. I’m retiring from GB (Great Britain). I’ll still do the major marathons around the world but this is my last Paralympics.”
Weir finished eighth in the 5,000m final earlier in the Games. He failed to qualify for the final in the 1,500m.
Switzerland’s Marcel Hug won marathon gold in a time of one hour, 27 minutes and 39 seconds.
It is a fourth medal of the Games for Hug, a longtime rival of Weir’s, after bronze in the 800m and two silvers, in the 1,500m and 5,000m.
Hua Jin of China took silver with Japan’s Tomoki Suzuki claiming the bronze.
(Graham Denholm/Getty Images for IPC)
