It’s minutes after 31-year-old Salum Ageze Kashafali broke the men’s 100 metre T12 world record with a timing of 10.42 seconds at the World Para Athletics Championships at Jawaharlal Stadium, but the Democratic Republic of Congo native and now Norwegian citizen is still at a loss for words.

Back in 2003, the then 10-year-old had escaped along with his family from civil war-torn Congo and lived in refugee camps before taking refuge in Norway.

The T12 classification is for athletes with visual impairment, who have some residual sight but are totally blind. Kashafali was diagnosed with Stargardt disease in 2017, which causes progressive vision loss. A former maths teacher, Kashafali is also the second fastest Paralympic athlete across categories. His 10.37 seconds from last year is only bet

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