Petrucio Ferreira dos Santos

The Brazilian claimed two gold medals – the 100m and 200m T47 - at the London 2017 World Championships, living up to expectations after winning his first major global title on home soil at the 2016 Rio Games.

Injury had ruled Ferreira out of the World Championships in 2015, but he had already made a big impression that year, despite only beginning his racing career in 2014.

At the Sao Paolo Grand Prix in April 2015, Ferreira got the better of his compatriot, the Paralympic and world champion Yohansson Nascimento, setting a new world record in the 200m T47.

He clocked 21.49, knocking an impressive 0.25 seconds off the previous T47 world record set by Australia’s Heath Francis back in 2008.

Ferreira went on to clinch double sprint gold at the Parapan Am Games in Toronto, Canada in August 2015. But an injury to his thigh just weeks before the World Championships meant he was not able to compete in Qatar.

Still, Ferreira, who had his left arm amputated below the elbow aged two after an accident with a grinding machine, bounced back and lined up at the 2016 Paralympic Games as the favourite for gold in the men’s 100m T47.

The young sprinter didn’t disappoint, breaking the world record in the heats and again in the final with a time of 10.57. Just 19-years -old at the time of the Games, he also won 400m T47 silver and was part of the Brazilian 4x100m T42-47 relay quartet that finished second behind Germany.

He went on to knock a further 0.04 seconds off his 100m best at London 2017 and could well threaten Irishman Jason Smyth’s title of fastest Paralympian on the planet (10.46) if his progression continues.