20 July 2011:  South African ‘Blade Runner’ Oscar Pistorius runs qualifying time for the World Athletics Championships in Daegu, South Korea in August and also for the London Olympics in 2012.

In an athletics meeting on the 19^th. July in Lignano Italy Pistorius ran his fastest 400 metres ever in a time of 45.07 seconds smashing his previous best time of 45.61 seconds and coming under the ‘A’ standard qualifying time of 45.25 seconds by 0.18 seconds.

Pistorius revealed on his Twitter page that he was delighted with the result and singled out his coach Ampie Louw for praise. He went on to say, “feels kind of surreal to have an A-qualification time in the bag for next year’s Olympic Games. Thank you all for your support. Can’t sleep I’m so happy. I have a dumb smile that’s permanent!”

Oscar Pistorius is eligible to compete in able bodied sport after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) overturned an IAAF ruling in May 2008 that his prosthetic limbs gave him an unfair advantage.

All that remains now is for Oscar to be selected in the South African team for the World Championships and later on for the Olympic Games. Each national team can select three athletes for each of the events providing they meet the ‘A’ standard.