A 15-year-old schoolgirl is hoping to compete in next year’s Tokyo Paralympics thanks to a state-of-the-art prosthetic arm.
Toni Shaw’s right arm has never fully formed meaning the youngster has always struggled to do upper body exercises which are crucial for a swimmer.
But despite the condition and not having a prosthetic to help her exercise, Toni trains for three hours in the pool and the gym before going to school for the day.
As a result, the youngster had an excellent 2018, competing for Scotland at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games and winning six medals at the Para-Swimming European Championships in Dublin, including two gold.
But despite the success, Toni’s gym work with sportscotland (corr) senior physical preparation coach David Boyd at Aberdeen Sports Village has always been restricted.
However, Toni now has a state-of-the-art prosthetic, made of carbon fibre which can be changed with several different attachments.
This allows Toni, from Aberdeen, to do exercises such as press-ups, weights, pull-ups, handstands and hanging exercises which were previously not possible.
David said: “With Toni we hit a bit of a plateau in terms of what we can manage for her in the gym.
“I started doing a bit of research myself into prosthetics to see what was available and what we could maybe fashion ourselves.
“We started going through the process of using some readily available things like deadlift straps, but there were still limitations.
“There was obviously an asymmetry limitation from left to right and limits to what she can manage in terms of load.
“The prosthetic is going to open a lot of doors in terms of what we can manage with Toni in the gym now, we will really be able to ramp up what her training looks like.”
David set out to look for solutions and eventually sought the help of Sarah Day of the National Centre for Prosthetics and Orthotics in Glasgow.
Toni’s incredible form has continued into this year as she set new Scottish records in the 100m freestyle S9 and 50m freestyle S9.
She is also set a new British record for the 100m butterfly S9 at the Scottish National Open Championships at Aberdeen Sports Village this past weekend.
But the prosthetic means Toni can now step up her bid, with support from the sportscotland institute of sport, to qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics.
She believes her recent major event experience can help her achieve her dream.
Toni said: “Last year was my first major competitions at the Commonwealth Games and at the Europeans.
“It was great to get some experience racing against high-quality athletes.
“I loved racing in front of the big crowds, it was a bit nerve-racking but once you get going it is really exciting.
“Tokyo is the main goal, it would be crazy to compete at a Paralympics at my age but hopefully I can make it.
“I’ve been supported by the sportscotland institute of sport for a while now.
“There’s so much support with David and the gym, there’s nutritional help and literally anything you could want you can access it.”