This week has seen London host the World Para Athletics Championships, in which hundreds of male and female athletes in all eligible impairment groups compete across a wide range of competitions.

“ Athletes compete according to their sport specific classification in each event. Some compete in wheelchairs and some with prostheses, while visually impaired athletes are supported by a sighted guide.”

(source: World Para Athletics Championships, London 2017)

This year will mark the eighth world championships, since the competition was established in 1994. 

Here are some of the incredible women who have created records during the competition: 

Gitte Haenen 

The 31 year old Belgian finished with a world record time of 1:28:76 I in her first ever 400m race. She took up Para athletics in December 2016 in Kapellen, Belgium.

 Before her accident she was a semi professional Thai boxer who completed in the European Championships for Belgium on a number of occasions. After the amputation of her leg, she enquired at the KAPE athletics club about training as a wheelchair athlete. A Belgian mobility group called Move All The Way lent her a handcycle until a number of charitable organisations helped her to buy one of her own. She continued to train after her leg was amputated, saying that she wanted to prove she could compete even with one leg.

She took up Para athletics in 2007 aged 15 when she tried wheelchair racing for the first time at a talent day at Loughborough University. She went on to win numerous championships and has become one of Britians most successful Para-Athletes. She broke 9 world records in 2010 and won 2 world championships in 2011 in New Zealand.  In the 100m heats at the London 2012 Olympics, she lowered the Paralympic record with a time of 18.24, before achieving 18.06 in the final. 

 Louzanne Coetzee

The 24 year old South African  reduced her 2016 world record time by more than a minute, finishing with a time of 18:14.27. 

She was born with no vision due to Leber's congenital amaurosis. She began Para Athletics in 2012  during her first year at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein, South Africa. She was named the 2014 Senior Sportswoman of the Year by the Free State Sport Association for the Physically Disabled in South Africa

Hongzhuan Zhou

The 28 year old Chinese Althlete won gold in the women's 400m and 800m.

She took up Para athletics in 2004 in Huangshi, China.The impairment to her legs is the result of polio, which she contracted aged three. 

Cassie Mitchell

The 36year old American beat the world record for Women's Discuss Throw, reaching 13.23m.

As a child, Mitchell was an accomplished rider in Western horse events, and also competed in gymnastics, dancing and running. After graduating high school, she developed a neurological condition, which left her paralyzed from the chest down and with permanent double vision. Mitchell played wheelchair basketball and wheelchair rugby during her time at Oklahoma State University before starting to compete on the world stage in athletics. Mitchell's first great achievement was when she qualified for the London 2012 Paralympic Games for the U.S. team in track & field. 
 

Isis Holt

16 year old Australian Isis Holt broke the record for the women's 100m, achieving a time of 13.43.

Holt was born with cerebal Palsy that affects both sides of her body, she began competing in Para Athletics in 2014. She was named 2015/16 Open Para Athlete of the Season by Athletics Victoria in Australia,  Junior Athlete of the Year at the 2015 Victorian Sports Awards in Australia and she received the award for 2014/15 Outstanding Junior Para Athlete Performance of the Season from Athletics Victoria in Australia.