Otago's Jess Hamill got New Zealand off to a good start on the opening day of the International Paralympic Committee world championships in Doha on Thursday night (NZ time).
Hamill won silver in the F34 shot put with a 7.83m effort that extended her own national record and qualified her for next year's Rio Olympics.
She shattered her previous record (7.14m), set at the Caledonian Ground in Dunedin earlier this month, with a 7.45m put in her first attempt.
But Hamill, who has cerebral palsy, saved her best for last, launching a monster 7.83m put with her sixth attempt to add silver to the Commonwealth Games silver medal she won in Delhi in 2012.
China's Lijuan Zou comfortably won gold with an 8.37m put from her first attempt, but Hamill produced longer puts than her rival with four of her six attempts.
Canterbury's William Stedman set an Oceania record in the men's T36 400m (57.32sec) to finish second in his heat and qualify for last night's final.
Otago's Caitlin Dore (F37 shot put), Will O'Neill (T35 200m) and Anna Grimaldi (T47 long jump) were also in action overnight.
