Van Rhijn now world’s fastest female leg amputee

Oliveira and Prince also break world records on glorious day for amputee sprinting 16 Jun 2013

A picture of a woman on the running track celebrating with her hands spread

Marlou Van Rhijn of Netherlands crosses the line to win gold in the Women's 200m - T44 Final at the Paralympic Games in London

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“So happy and lucky to say that I’m now the fastest woman EVER on (1 or 2) blades!! #excited #1296.”

On the same day (15 June) Brazil’s Alan Oliveira became the world’s fastest leg amputee, the Netherlands’ Marlou van Rhijn became the female equivalent with two record breaking runs at the IPC Athletics Grand Prix in Berlin, Germany.

The 21 year old double below knee leg amputee, who already held the 100m, 200m and 400m T43 world records, smashed her 100m best with a blistering run of 12.96 seconds - the fastest time ever by a female leg amputee.

The time was 0.31 seconds faster that her previous record of 13.27 set during London 2012 and was also 0.02 seconds quicker than the T44 single below knee leg amputee world record of 12.98 set in July 2006 by April Holmes of the USA.

Not content with smashing the 100m record, van Rhijn went onto destroy her own 400m mark, running 61.10, to take 3.85 seconds off the time she set last month at the Dutch Open.

“So happy and lucky to say that I’m now the fastest woman EVER on (1 or 2) blades!! #excited #1296,” van Rhijn tweeted shortly after breaking the 100m record.

At last year’s Paralympic Games, the “Blade Babe” won 100m silver - finishing behind France’s Marie-Amelie le Fur - and 200m gold. Last Sunday (9 June) she showed her intention to smash the 100m world record by running an unofficial 13.23 at a meeting in Alphen, the Netherlands.

Earlier in the day in Berlin, Paralympic 200m champion Oliveira obliterated the 100m T43 world record previously jointly held by South Africa’s Oscar Pistorius and USA’s Blake Leeper. Oliveira’s time of 10.77 was 0.14 seconds quicker than the previous T43 mark and was 0.08 seconds faster than Jonnie Peacock’s T44 world record of 10.85.

Meanwhile, in San Antonio, Texas at the US Paralympics Track and Field National Championships, 29 year old American David Prince also broke a world record, this time in the 200m T44.

Prince, a 400m T44 bronze medallist in London, ran 22.47 to eclipse the previous world record of 22.49 set by South African Arnu Fourie during London 2012.

The 2013 IPC World Championships will take place in Lyon, France from 19-28 July. It will be the biggest gathering of international athletes since London 2012, with 1,300 athletes from 90 countries expected to compete.

For further information, please visit the official website for the 2013 IPC Athletics World Championships.