Whitehead (pictured above) set his record during last month's European Athletics Championships in Stadskanaal, the Netherlands.

The 35-year-old had previously broken the same record at the London 2012 test event at the Olympic Stadium in May.

He also claimed bronze in the 100m at the event, to clinch the IPC prize after winning 43 per cent of the vote – also a new record – on www.paralympic.org.

"Obviously I've done quite well, but this is not the top gear, I've got gears to go through," world champion Whitehead said of his record breaking performance.

"I just want to keep pushing the boundaries and show to everybody that I'm not just there to represent Great Britain, but also to push the boundaries of sport and disability sport."


Whitehead was born without lower legs and has previously competed for Britain in ice sledge hockey at the Turin 2006 Winter Paralympics.

Also a successful marathon runner, Whitehead was the first amputee athlete to break the three hour mark for 26.2 miles.

But that event is controversially not included in the Paralympics.

Second in the poll was German Birgit Kober, who won 38 per cent of the vote after taking gold in the javelin F52/53/33/34 and shot put F34, as well as setting a world record of 10.06m in the latter, at the European Championships.

The other athletes missing out on June's prize were Britain's Jonnie Peacock, Marlou van Rhijn of the Netherlands, Russian Evgenii Shvetcov, France's Stéphane Houdet and Jessica Long of the United States.

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