Quick Facts
LeoBiography
Toni Shaw (born 5 August 2003) is a British Paralympic swimmer. In 2019 she set the world record time for the S9 200m butterfly, and was also part of the team that set a new world record for the 4x100m medley relay.
Personal life and career
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 medals in the 4x100m medley relay. and 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 is coached by the Aberdeen University performance swimming coach Gregor McMillan and trains at Aberdeen Sports Village Aquatics Centre. She was one of ten nominees for BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year in 2019.
Her right arm never fully formed and Shaw was born without her right hand. From 2019 she started using a carbon fibre prosthetic 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.
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
- 1st Women's 400 metres freestyle
- 1st 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 – S9 50m Freestyle
- 3rd S9 100m Freestyle
- 2nd S9 400m Freestyle
- 2nd S9 100m Butterfly
- 3rd S9 200m Individual Medley
- 1st 34pt 4x100m Medley Relay
- 1st 34pt 4x100m Freestyle Relay