The Scottish wheelchair racer, 31, bagged World Championship T54 800m bronze to finally banish the demons of so many near misses over the years.
Woods had two fourth-place finishes at the event in Kobe last year, finished sixth at the Paris Paralympics and in the same position at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham two years earlier – but can now finally call herself a medallist on the big stage.
She came into the Indian showpiece confident she could mix it with the big guns and delivered on her word to propel herself onto the podium.
Woods produced a battling performance to beat China’s Tian Yajuan to bronze as Belgian Lea Bayekula grabbed gold and China’s Zhou Zhaoqian won silver.
She said: “I’m absolutely buzzing.
“It’s great to be out there and in the mix amongst those girls, who are great at what they do.
“Year on year, consistency has grown – I’ve just been doing the same thing, but building on it every year, getting stronger in the gym, putting more work in and getting faster.
“It’s just about me having had the patience to know that it will pay off at some point.
“I’m hoping this is the year it’s going to pay towards.”
Sabrina Fortune hopes she has inspired an Indian generation after hitting the jackpot with yet another world record and global crown.
The Welsh star, 28, followed up her Paris Paralympic gold with a fourth consecutive world title.
Roared on by a boisterous crowd crammed into one corner of the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Fortune came flying out of the blocks to throw a distance of 16.75m with her very first attempt and improve on her world record set earlier this season by a full metre.
This was the busiest – and loudest – the 60-000-seater stadium has been for this event and Fortune, who competes in the F20 classification for athletes with intellectual disabilities, hopes her show-stopping exploits can put para sport further on the sub-continental map.
“The loud noises, the drums – everything was incredible,” she said.
“It was truly something amazing.
“I’d love for this to make Indian children with a disability go: ‘look at that, they can do it and that’s incredible.’
“I hope they can push for more athletes to come forward – we don’t have enough, and India is an incredible country.”
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