Toni Stephanie Shaw (born 5 August 2003) is a British

Paralympic swimmer Para swimming is an adaptation of the sport of swimming for athletes with disabilities. Para swimmers compete at the Summer Paralympic Games and at other sports competitions throughout the world. The sport is governed by the International Para ...

. In 2019 she set the

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

time for the S9 200m

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

, and was also part of the team that set a new world record for the 4x100m medley relay. At the 2020 Summer Paralympics, she won a bronze medal in the women's 400 metre freestyle S9 event and later went on to win gold at the 2022 World Para Swimming Championships, becoming the World Champion. She is a three-time World Champion and two-time European Champion.

Personal life and career

Shaw's right arm never fully formed and she was born without her right hand. From 2019 Shaw started using a carbon fibre

prosthetic In medicine, a prosthesis (plural: prostheses; from grc, πρόσθεσις, prósthesis, addition, application, attachment), or a prosthetic implant, is an artificial device that replaces a missing body part, which may be lost through trau ...

for her arm that with the use of different attachments enabled her to undertake upper-body exercises such as press-ups and weight training that benefit swimmers but had previously not been possible for her. Shaw was born on 5 August 2003 and took swimming lessons from the age of eight. At the age of 14, she held 14 Scottish national swimming records in the S9 and S10 classifications and was selected to compete for Team Scotland at the 2018 Commonwealth Games where she finished 5th in both the Women's S9 100m Backstroke and Women's 100-metre freestyle S9; 6th in the Women's 200-metre individual medley SM10, and seventh in the Women's 100-metre breaststroke SB9. She set a new world record time of 2.30.46 in the S9 200m butterfly at the Para-swimming World Series in Berlin in 2019 at the age of 15, and won six medals at the 2019 World Para Swimming Championships, including

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

s in the 4x100m medley relay and the 4x100m freestyle relay. The 4x100m medley relay team, comprising Alice Tai, Brock Whiston, Shaw and Stephanie Millward beat the second-placed United States team by 22 seconds and set a new world record of 4.36.31. Shaw was coached by the

Aberdeen University , mottoeng = The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom , established = , type = Public research universityAncient university , endowment = £58.4 million (2021) , budget ...

performance swimming coach Gregor McMillan and trained at Aberdeen Sports Village Aquatics Centre. She was one of ten nominees for

BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year The BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year award is presented at the annual BBC Sports Personality of the Year award ceremony. It is awarded to the sportsperson aged 17 or under as of 1 January of that year, who has made the most outstanding con ...

in 2019. Shaw currently Swims for

University of Stirling The University of Stirling (, gd, Oilthigh Shruighlea (abbreviated as Stir or Shruiglea, in post-nominals) is a public university in Stirling, Scotland, founded by royal charter in 1967. It is located in the Central Belt of Scotland, built ...

while doing an

undergraduate degree An undergraduate degree (also called first degree or simply degree) is a colloquial term for an academic degree earned by a person who has completed undergraduate courses. In the United States, it is usually offered at an institution of higher e ...

in Business. In June 2022, Shaw won Bronze in the Women's 100m Butterfly S9 at the 2022 World Para Swimming Championships in

Funchal, Madeira Funchal () is the largest city, the municipal seat and the capital of Portugal's Autonomous Region of Madeira ) , anthem = ( en, "Anthem of the Autonomous Region of Madeira") , song_type = Regional anthem , image_map=EU-Portugal_with_Madei ...

, qualifying first her heat for the final. She also came 5th in the SM9 200m Individual Medley. On 16 June, Shaw won gold in the women's 400 metre freestyle S9,and became the World Champion. On the first day of swimming competition at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, held in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Shaw won bronze in the S9 100m Freestyle at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in a time of 1:03.75,finishing one one-hundredth of a second behind Australia's Emily Beecroft.

Record in major competitions

2018 Commonwealth Games *5th – Women's S9 100m Backstroke *5th – Women's 100-metre freestyle S9 *6th – Women's 200-metre individual medley SM10 *7th – Women's 100-metre breaststroke SB9

2018 World Para Swimming European Championships The 2018 World Para Swimming European Championships, known for sponsorship reasons as the 2018 World Para Swimming Allianz European Championships took place in Dublin, Ireland from 13 to 19 August 2018. It was the 5th edition of the Championsh ...

*1st – Women's 400 metres freestyle *1st – Women's 4 x 100 metres medley relay *2nd – Women's 200 metres individual medley *2nd – Women's 100 metres butterfly *3rd – Women's 100 metres backstroke 2019 World Para Swimming Championships *5th – Women's S9 50m Freestyle *3rd – Women's S9 100m Freestyle *2nd – Women's S9 400m Freestyle *2nd – Women's S9 100m Butterfly *3rd – Women's S9 200m Individual Medley *1st – Women's 34pt 4x100m Medley Relay *1st – Women's 34pt 4x100m Freestyle Relay 2022 World Para Swimming Championships * 4th – Women's S9 100m Freestyle * 4th – Women's S9 200m Individual Medley * 3rd – Women's S9 100m Butterfly * 1st – Women's S9 400m Freestyle 2022 Commonwealth Games * 3rd-Women's S9 100m Freestyle

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Shaw, Toni 2003 births Living people People educated at Albyn School Scottish female freestyle swimmers Paralympic swimmers of Great Britain Medalists at the World Para Swimming Championships Medalists at the World Para Swimming European Championships Swimmers at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Paralympic bronze medalists for Great Britain Paralympic medalists in swimming Sportspeople from Aberdeen British female backstroke swimmers British female butterfly swimmers British female medley swimmers British female breaststroke swimmers S9-classified Paralympic swimmers Swimmers at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games medallists in swimming Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Scotland Medallists at the 2022 Commonwealth Games