
23rd May 2026
More personal best joy on the final day in Nottwil
Melanie Woods (Red Star, Rodger Harkins) completed a clean sweep of personal bests in Switzerland to finish her World Para Athletics Grand Prix campaign on a high.
The Scottish wheelchair racer, who has been in superb form over the three days of competition at a hot and sunny Nottwil, finished third in the T54 1500m in 3:11.90, smashing her previous best of 3:16.78 set in in 2024.
Although Swiss world record holder Catherine Debrunner and American Tatyana McFadden pulled well clear of the field early on, Woods showed great determination to dig deep and again get the better of China’s Zhou Zhaoqian in the battle for third.
Earlier on Saturday, Woods won the penultimate heat of her 100m in 16.40, beating the 16.67 from Dubai two years ago for ninth place overall.
It means the 31-year-old finishes with five personal bests from her five events after Thursday’s 800m and the 400m and 5000m on Friday.
It is a massive confidence boost ahead of this summer’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow where she will represent her home nation in the T54 1500m.
Fellow Briton Eden Rainbow-Cooper (Red Velvet Racing Team, Arno Mul) did not start the 1500m. While in the men’s T54 event, Danny Sidbury (Sutton & District, Christine Parsloe) had a season’s best of 2:50.31 for 15th overall.
Karim Chan (Charnwood, Aston Moore) improved on his personal best for the second day in a row in the finals of the men’s standing 100m which featured athletes from a number of different categories.
Chan, who is a T38 competitor, crossed the line in 11.38, a 0.02 improvement on his time from Friday’s preliminaries, and it saw him top his own category and finish 10th overall.
In the women’s 100m standing event, T44 athlete Bebe Jackson (Woodford Green, Essex Ladies, Alan James) clocked 13.79 for a season’s best and 11th place.
There was another season’s best for experienced wheelchair racer Kare Adenegan (Coventry, Arno Mul) in the T34 100m.
The seven-time Paralympic medallist won her heat in 17.63 – her fastest time since 2024 – to finish first overall.
Fabienne Andre (Sutton & District, Christine Parsloe) was third behind Adenegan in 18.96 – also a season’s best – for fifth.


