Competing late in the evening session of day two of the Championships, the 31-year-old Londoner held back for the first lap in front of a crowd of just under 1,000 before turning on the style in the second and final lap to power past his Swiss rival in the final straight and claim the narrowest of victories.

Weir's gold came in a Championship Record of 1min 37.28sec with Hug picking up silver in 1:37.30 and Julien Casoli of France taking the bronze in 1:37.53.

Weir, the reigning Paralympic champion over the distance, told insideworldparasport: "I came here targeting a gold so I'm really happy to get one here and to be world champion.

"I have been saying all season, when people kept saying that I finishing behind Marcel, that it is the major championships that count.

"He may have my world record but I train for medals; the world record is a bonus and I will get them back."

The victory capped off a fantastic day for Britain where the team picked up two golds, three silvers and three bronzes.

Katrina Hart claimed Britain's first World Championship title as she stormed to victory in the women's 200m T37 final.

The 20-year-old from Bath finished in 30.11sec to hold off silver medallist Svetlana Sergeeva of Russia who finished in 31.02 and Viktoriya Kravchenko of Ukraine who came home in 30.11 seconds.

Hart said: "It is an amazing feeling to win gold, I'm very, very happy."

In the morning session, Bev Jones claimed second place in the F37 discus final with a European record of 30.62 metres.

Paralympic champion China's Na Mi took the gold with a Championship record of 31.46m in round five while her compatriot Qiuping Xu claimed bronze with 28.74.

"I'm very pleased with that," said the 36-year-old from Queensferry.

"I just wanted to go out there to continue to do what I'd been doing in training."

Britain's second silver came in the T53 100m as world record holder Mickey Bushell finished in 14.86 in the opening track event of the day.

The 20-year-old from Shropshire, who was undoubtedly the favourite going into the race, was piped at the line by China's Huzhao Li who took the victory in a new Championship Record of 14.82 with Canada's Brent Lakatos taking bronze in 15.07.

"I have to say I'm disappointed," said Bushell.

"But now I need to pick myself up and focus on my next race."

Paul Black claimed the team's final silver in the 1500m T36 event.

The 21-year old from Charlton Down finished in a time of 4:41.66 behind Artim Arefyri of Russia in 4:40.17 and ahead of Jose manuel Gonzalez of Spain who picked up bronze in 4:46.90.

Tracey Hilton (pictured) won her bronze with a third place finish in the women's 200m T11 race.

The 40-year-old from Cardiff finished in 26.43 behind Terezina Guilhermina of Brazil in 24.98 and her compatriot Jerusa Geber Santos in 26.98.

Elizabeth Clegg, the 20-year-old from Edinburgh, collected a bronze medal as she finished with a time of 26.75 in the women's 200m T12 to finish third behind Assia El Hannouni of France in 25.83 and Hanka Kolnikova of Slovakia in 26.38.

Sally Brown, the 15-year-old from Northern Ireland, earned Britain's final bronze, finishing with a time of 27.43 in the women's T46 200m, behing Yanidis Castillo of Cuba in 24.86 and Nikol Rodomakina of Russia in 25.95.

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