There is a lot at stake for Taieri athlete Holly Robinson when she competes in the International Athletics Federation's Grand Prix in Doha next month.
A top performance would give Robinson automatic entry to the IAAF Grand Prix Grand Final at Birmingham in August.
The IAAF always includes one AWD event in its programme and this year it is the women's javelin, which is Robinson's specialist event.
''The top AWD javelin throwers in the world will be invited to Birmingham,'' her coach Raylene Bates told the Taieri Times.
''Holly was ranked third in the world last year and her recent performances in the Grand Prix in Beijing will lift her standing.''
Doha is the capital of Qatar and the Grand Prix meeting will be held in its modern stadium on May 9.
In Beijing this month, Robinson broke her own New Zealand record with a throw of 35.58m.
It placed her third in the event to Chinese throwers under the Raza classification scoring system.
Robinson also broke the New Zealand record in the shot put in Beijing with 10.84m and won the event using the Raza system.
Bates took Robinson to Beijing to gain international experience competing in an environment and culture foreign to her.
Bates was impressed by the facilities for AWD athletes in Beijing.
''The complex we stayed at was amazing,'' Bates said.
''It was built specifically for the 2008 Chinese paralympic team. We walk out the front door and 20m in front is the track.
''There is also an indoor swimming pool, 200m indoor athletic facility, table tennis, tennis, basketball, a cycling velodrome, weights facility, café and of course a big accommodation block.''
Robinson finished seventh in the javelin at the London Paralympics in 2012.
Robinson, a Polytechnic student, left her family back in her home town of Hokitika four years ago to live in Dunedin and train with coach Bates.
