Barry and Francois-Elie show their form ahead of July's World Championships

“We are very satisfied with the work of the organising committee. The preparations are going well and I am confident that we will see a fantastic World Championship that will build off the success we created at the London 2012 Paralympic Games."

Two world leading performances were displayed at the test event for July's 2013 IPC Athletics World Championships in Lyon, France on Saturday, 25 May 2013.

On home soil France's Paralympic gold medallist Mandy Francois-Elie put on an impressive performance, running the 100m T37 in 13.77, a time faster than the world record set 13 years ago.

Shortly after Ireland’s Orla Barry (F57) threw the discus 30.71m, again further than the world record, indicating she will be one to watch at the World Championships.

In lieu of any anti-doping at the test event, which was organised byLigue Rhone-Alpes Handisport and featured just 80 athletes from five different countries - France, Algeria, China, Ireland and Venezuela, both performances will not count as official world records.

A delegation from the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) was also in Lyon to observe the test event and to meet with event organisers and review the progress of the preparations.

IPC Athletics Senior Manager, Ryan Montgomery, said: “We are very satisfied with the work of the organising committee. The preparations are going well and I am confident that we will see a fantastic World Championship that will build off the success we created at the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

“The fact that we saw two world records being broken yesterday shows that we can expect great competition in two months’ time.”

Taking place from 19-28 July, the 2013 IPC Athletics World Championships will welcome 1,300 athletes from more than 100 countries, as the majority of medal winners from London 2012 will look to start their preparations for the next Paralympic Games in Rio in 2016.

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Orla Barry

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