Toni Shaw landed her first-ever world title, winning women’s S9 400m freestyle gold at the world para swimming championships in Madeira.
The Aberdonian, now based at the University of Stirling, held off Hungary’s Zsofia Konkoly by just 0.14 seconds in the final to surpass her bronze in the event at the Tokyo Paralympics.
#Madeira2022
“Last night was difficult but I knew I kind of had to put it out of my mind. On that last 50 I saw that I was being caught & thought, ‘no, it’s not happening again, not today'." No it didn't happen @tonishaw_x, you are WORLD CHAMPION. Details https://t.co/FUsze6Vyo3 pic.twitter.com/AFVinZnVV1— Scottish Swimming (@ScottishSwim) June 16, 2022
She said: “I’m a bit shocked, I’m not going to lie.
“It maybe wasn’t the quickest race, but the touch was so close and I’m just really happy that I managed to get it,
“I knew the girl beside me has a really strong second half, and I sometimes struggle on the last 100m, so I thought that if I could get a good enough lead, I may be able to hold her off.
“I was breathing the other way. I could see her when my head was down, I knew she was catching me up.
But I had no idea just how close it was until I actually touched home.”
Fellow Brit Grace Harvey won the women’s SB5 100m breaststroke while Scots star Stephen Clegg added to his two golds with silver in the men’s S12 100m freestyle.
Clegg said: “I would have liked to have gone a bit quicker but that’s a little unrealistic given the prep I’ve had coming into this competition with illness and injury.
“It was a pretty good performance and not too far away from my best and to come away with a silver medal is something never to turn your nose up at.”
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