Marcel Hug: ‘The rivalry with David Weir is really important to me’

Marcel Hug was named World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability by Laureus on Sunday, and he is enjoying the feeling. “For me it’s the most important award we can win in sport,” he says, “so I’m very happy and proud to have it.”

The Laureus World Sport Awards are international prizes selected each year by a tiny electorate of 71 people. Each of them are former winners – the best of the sporting best – and any success therefore shows the level of respect with which athletes are held by their peers.

That Hug should be the winner of this year’s award – his fourth nomination and second success – should come as no surprise. The “Silver Bullet”, as the Swiss wheelchair racer is known due to his distinctive metallic helmet, dominated the Paralympic Games in Tokyo. He won four gold medals in the T54 classification, at 800m, 1500m and 5,000m as well as the marathon, and set world and Paralympic records in the process.

“I think it is the top of my career,” Hug says, reflecting on what he describes as a “crazy” year. “Of course it was challenging to come to Tokyo, because we had not a lot of competitions. I really didn’t know where I was standing compared with my competitors. So to win that first gold in the 5,000m came as huge relief, and for the next races I was full of confidence.”

It was in the heats of the 5,000m that Hug finished nearly a minute clear of ParalympicGB’s David Weir, a performance that signalled the beginning of the very end of their fierce rivalry, one that stretches back to London 2012. Hug may have eventually slayed the “Weirwolf”, but he says the two remain cordial. He got a text from the Scot to congratulate him on his award, plus the two world records in the 5,000m Hug has already recorded this year.