Shelby Watson smashes two of four world records in Nottwil

Great Britain’s Shelby Watson broke two of the four world records that were set on Thursday (26 May), the first day of the IPC Athletics Grand Prix in Nottwil, Switzerland.

In the morning session, Watson took four seconds off her own 400m T33 best posting a time of 1:10.15. The 18-year-old Scot followed that up in the afternoon session with 19.89 in the 100m T33, a time more than one second faster than her previous record set earlier this month in Barcelona, Spain.

"I was shocked as I was going for a PB," said Watson of her 400m record. "I'm really honored and surprised and I think it's still sinking in to be honest. Once I get back to my hotel room, I'll probably be bouncing around like an eight year-old."

Also rewriting the record books on Thursday at the eighth Grand Prix of the season was Tunisia’s Walid Ktila and Ukraine’s Leilia Adzhametova.

Ktila, a winner of four world titles last October, smashed the 1,500m T34 world record with a time of 3:19.02. His time in the heats lowered the previous record set in January 2012 by Australia’s Rheed McCracken by more than 11 seconds. Ktila now holds every world record from 100m through to 1,500m in the men’s T34 class. In the same race, Great Britain’s Isaac Towers broke the European record with a time of3:21.14.

The surprise of the day was in the women’s 100m T13 when Adzhametova clocked 11.82 to knock 0.07 off the previous best set by South Africa’s Ilse Hayes who finished second in the race.

The IPC Athletics Grand Prix will continue through to Sunday (29 May) and has attracted 380 athletes from 50 countries.