Maties Parasport athlete and student in the Faculty of Education Charl du Toit was the toast of the Stellenbosch athletes this weekend when he broke the world record in the 100m (T37) at the IPC Athletics Grand Prix event held in Nottwill, Switzerland, from 27-19 May.

He improved on the record of 11.46s held jointly by training partner and fellow South African Fanie van der Merwe and Russia's Andrey Vdovin. Du Toit managed to shave 0.03s off the previous record time.

He also ran a personal best time of 51:12 in the 400m and set a new African record earlier the same day.

"It was one my best days ever on the athletics track," Du Toit said.

"I don't think it has sunk in yet. I was shocked when I crossed the line and saw the time, and also very grateful.

"I mainly focus on the 400m but I knew anything is possible on the track."

He attributed his success to the family environment created by his coach, Dr Suzanne Ferreira. His training group includes athletes such as Van der Merwe, Ilse Hayes, Arnu Fourie and Dyan Buis.

"I couldn't ask for a better support team."

Du Toit also thanked his conditioning coach Sean Surmon and physiotherapist Tanya Green.

The following Maties Parasport athletes also delivered some excellent results: Reinhardt Hamman (T38) exceeded the 50m mark in the javelin (50.01m) and Arnu Fourie (T44) blitzed off the 100m in 11.06s and the 200m in 22.45s, a new African record. Other good performances included: Dyan Buis (T38) in the 100m (11.66s) and 400m (50.81s – a personal best time), Fanie van der Merwe (T37) in the 100m (11.66s) and Ilse Hayes (T13) in the 100m (12.09s) and the 200m (25.12s).​​