Canada's Stilwell wins track gold at paralympic worlds

Canada's Michelle Stilwell won gold Saturday in the T52 wheelchair classification 100-metres at the World Paralympic track championship in Christchurch, New Zealand.

The Nanoose Bay, B.C., native crossed the line in a tournament-record 20.35 seconds to earn Canada's first medal at the 2011 event. American Morgan Kerr was silver and Japan's Teruy Tanaka third.

"Michelle Stilwell continued to demonstrate her dominance and set the tone for a positive world championships in her class," said Canadian head coach Ozzie Sawicki in a statement.

Kyle Pettey's best throw of 10.21 metres placed him in fourth in the F34 classification shot put.

Pettey, who hails from Brampton, Ont., established a new world record at the 2010 Commonwealth Games by throwing 11.44 metres, but Thierry Cibone of France bettered that to capture gold Saturday, setting a new world mark of 11.53 metres.

In other finals Josh Cassidy of Guelph, Ont., finished fourth in the T54 10000-metres, while Sherbrooke, Que., native Diane Roy placed fifth in the T54 5000-metres.