After failing to make the qualifying times for last year's Beijing Olympics, the South African athlete won three gold medals in the Paralympics a month later.

Now Pistorius has again set his sights on taking on the best able-bodied athletes and, in a bid to make the qualifying times for the World Championships in August.

 

He will also run at Golden League meets in Oslo and Rome as well several other events in Europe.

Pistorius said: "We are working quite hard towards Berlin and I want to get in some competitive races before that in Europe and hopefully the times will come down.

 

"I hope to qualify for the 400 metres but also the relay."
 

Pistorius is chasing a qualifying time of 45.95sec for the individual 400m, for which his personal best is 46.23.

 

He said: "I would like to enter the individual one and we don't have any sub-45 runners in South Africa and it's going to be quite hard to qualify for the relay."

The 22-year-old athlete's running blades caused a storm during the buildup to the Olympics when the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) banned them on grounds the carbon fibre limbs gave him an advantage even over able bodied athletes.

That decision was overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

 

Pistorius became eligible to compete in the Olympics but failed to make the qualifying times.
 

Pistorius' preparations for this season were jolted when he crashed his boat in February in South Africa.
 

He said: "It's slowed me down a little bit but I'm very lucky and feeling pretty good.

 

"I had a lot of help from the medical team and friends and family.

 

"The first six weeks I couldn't do much [training] because I had broken my ribs."

Now Pistorius faces tough opposition as he competesfor the first time since the crash.

 

He is the star turn at the BT Paralympic World Cup, which opens in Manchester today and continues until next Monday.

Pistorius said: "I'm just running the 100 and the 400.

 

"It's definitely good to have an extremely good level of competition with a lot of the top Americans deciding to come over and it makes it much harder."

 

More than 400 athletes from 40 countries around the world will be competing in the six-day event.

 

Pistorius said: “The BT Paralympic World Cup is such a crucial event in my development and I’ve done everything I can to be back to full fitness."

 

BT are also a Tier One sponsor for the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics.

 

Suzi Williams, the BT group marketing and brand director, said: “BT has a long history of supporting disability sport in the UK - in fact BT was the first corporate supporter of the British Paralympic Association 20 years ago.

 

“That’s why we are so excited to be here this week, starting our journey to 2012 as the new title partner of the BT Paralympic World Cup.

 

"BT is fully committed to doing everything we can to help make this event the very best it can be. We are delighted to welcome athletes from all over the world for six days of fantastic competition.”

 

The BT Paralympic World Cup is the first major international competition in Europe in the four years cycle leading up to the London 2012 Paralympic Games and a great test for British and international athletes.

 

 

BT Ambassador Sir Chris Hoy (pictured), who trains alongside the British Paralympic cycling team at the Manchester Velodrome, was exclusively involved in the GB men's final wheelchair basketball training session.

 

He said: “I'm continually inspired by the skill and talent Paralympic athletes display and it was incredible to see first-hand today the dynamic skills involved in wheelchair basketball. I wish all the athletes competing in Manchester the best of luck.”

 

GB wheelchair basketball bronze medallist Joe Bestwick is looking ahead to the competition.

 

He said: “We are excited to be playing against some of the best teams in the world - Australia of course set the benchmark when they became Paralympic champions.

 

"We have a fantastic rivalry with them and are looking forward to getting stuck into the tournament.”

 

Peter Mearns, the executive director of communications and marketing at the North West Development Agency (NWDA), who are one of the event's stakeholders, said, “The BT Paralympic World Cup has become one of the highlights of Manchester’s exciting sporting calendar.

 

"As a major international sporting event it makes a significant contribution to the regional economy and raises the profile of Manchester around the world.

 

“It also gives our talented local athletes a chance to shine in front of a home crowd, and hopefully this advantage will result in plenty of medals for Northwest and British athletes.”

 

Manchester City Council is hosting the event for the fifth year.

 

Mike Amesbury, the executive member for culture and leisure at Manchester City Council said: “Manchester’s commitment to sport at all levels has been recognised by the city winning the prestigious title of the world’s leading Sport City in 2008.

 

“The BT Paralympic World Cup continues to play a key role both as a launch pad for our elite athletes to go on and achieve greater success, as evidenced in Beijing last year and in the creation of opportunities in disability sport for residents, schools, clubs and communities across the city.”

 

Simon Morton, the senior events consultant at UK Sport said, “UK Sport has supported the BT Paralympic World Cup since its inception five years ago and:as the national sports events agency we are committed to staging world class events on home soil. In preparation for the 2012 Paralympic Games we are working closely with sports to develop a significant programme of major events.

 

“UK Sport’s World Class Events Programme will invest over £15 million between 2009 to 2012, not only providing British athletes with the valuable opportunity of competing on home soil ahead of London 2012, but also helping to build up a network of world-class event managers, volunteers and officials.”

 

Tickets for the BT Paralympic World Cup are still on sale and can be purchased via the event website at www.btparalympicworldcup.com or the ParalympicsGB website at www.paralympics.org.uk or by calling 0844 8471622.