Wheelchair racer Melanie Woods announced her arrival on the big stage with bronze medals in the T54 800m and 1500m at last year’s World Para Athletics World Championships in India.

But the 31-year-old Scot (Rodger Harkins, Red Star) is not resting on her laurels and is aiming for more improvements at this week’s World Para Athletics Grand Prix in Switzerland.

The event in Nottwil from Thursday to Saturday, features a host of the world’s top competitors in a busy schedule in an event historically littered with personal bests and records – particularly for wheelchair racers.

Woods opened her season last week in a wet and windy Arbon at the Swiss Championships and Daniela Jutzeler Memorial events where she finished second twice over 800m and second and third in the 1500m and she is hoping for kinder conditions to test herself this week where she will again be joined by fellow Briton and recent Boston Marathon winner Eden Rainbow-Cooper (Arno Mul, Red Velvet Racing Team) among others.

“I was happy with the placings in Arbon but for Nottwil I definitely want to see what I am capable of timewise and challenge what I did last week – hopefully with better weather,” Woods says.

“These races are a big chance for us because all of the top racers turn up. It does seem crazy to open your season at the biggest competition of the year but as wheelchair racers we are used to it.

“It puts pressure on in a good way because you know you have to be ready. Sometimes the start of the season can feel a bit more like dusting off the cobwebs whereas we feel we have to turn up and be in good shape.

“You also have to get your racing brain on again and in Nottwil there are some Chinese athletes competing, who we usually only see at the World Championships or Paralympics, so it makes it more challenging but more exciting.”

The medals won in New Delhi last year by the two-time Paralympian, who sustained a spinal cord injury when she was hit by a car while out cycling in 2018, were a proud moment in her career.

Later this summer, she will be hoping for another career highlight when she represents Team Scotland in the T54 1500m at the Commonwealth Games with a chance to compete in front of a home crowd at the Scotstoun Stadium and highlight Para-athletics on the big stage in a fully-integrated event.

And she believes that the confidence gained from her 2025 season, which also included 400m and 5000m personal bests in Nottwil, is starting to pay dividends when she takes to the start-line.

“I’m looking at the other girls now and I believe I can beat them and I think that’s powerful place to be,” she says.

“Where I used to see them as almost Superwomen athletes and was in awe of what they do, I now think ‘I can do that too’ and that is pretty cool.

“In this category there is a lot of depth and athletes who have been around for a long time doing incredible things pushing world records and going faster each year.

“I’d been chipping away at a podium spot from fifth or sixth position for quite a while and I’m hoping that over the next year I can solidify my place in the class and see what more I can get out of myself.”

Longer-term, continuing her improvement and putting herself in a place to be a medal challenger at the 2028 Los Angeles Paralympics remains at the forefront of Woods’s mind.

“I don’t think I’m near my potential yet, which is an exciting place to be,” she admits.

“With standards always improving, if I want to get to LA in medal shape I’m going to have to take some risks and explore some different avenues and figure out how to make those 1% gains.

“That is a process of trial and error, but I need to unturn every stone to see how good I can really get.

“I want to be at those Games and know that I’ve put my heart and soul into my performance and preparation. If I do that and it ends up being fifth or sixth, then I will take it, but I really want to be on the podium.”

You can watch all the action from Nottwill here