World’s best at Swiss Open Championships in Pratteln. 31 May 2011

Fresh from his victories at the Great Manchester Run and Virgin London Marathon, David Weir turned his focus to qualifying for the London 2012 Paralympic Games racing at the Swiss Open Nationals in Pratteln, Switzerland from 28-29 May.

Following his three Gold medals at the IPC World Championships in New Zealand, David was up against his old rivals Australian Kurt Fearnley and Marcel Hug of Switzerland. The closest race of the weekend was the 5,000m on Saturday, which came down to an epic photo finish. David edged out Marcel Hug despite clocking exactly the same time, 10:24.39, well within the 10:50.00 A Qualification standard for the Paralympic Games next year. Paralympic and World Champion Marathon specialist Kurt Fearnley came third in 10:25.36.

David came second to Germany’s Marc Schuh in the 400m on Saturday and was third in the 800m by just two tenths of a second behind Julien Casoli and Marcel Hug, with a winning time of 1:37.49.

On Sunday, David was third in the 1500m in another close battle, with four tenths of a second separating Julien Casoli in first place, Marcel Hug and David. He recorded a time of 3:02.85 seconds.

David will now compete in the Daniela Jutzeler Memorial meeting in Muttenz, Switzerland on Thursday 2 June.