Hannah Cockroft wins magnificent seventh gold at Tokyo Paralympics

ParalympicsGB Athlete Hannah Cockroft aged 29, from Halifax, wins gold in the 800m T34 - Women event at the Olympic Stadium during day eleven of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games in Japan. (Picture: PA)ParalympicsGB Athlete Hannah Cockroft aged 29, from Halifax, wins gold in the 800m T34 - Women event at the Olympic Stadium during day eleven of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games in Japan. (Picture: PA)
ParalympicsGB Athlete Hannah Cockroft aged 29, from Halifax, wins gold in the 800m T34 - Women event at the Olympic Stadium during day eleven of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games in Japan. (Picture: PA)
Bloodied but still not beaten Hannah Cockroft powered to yet another Paralympic gold - and then admitted she was ‘gutted’ to miss her own world record.

There is no pleasing some people but class act Cockroft is often in a race with herself at these Games, banking her seventh career gold with a victory in the T34 800m at a rainy Olympic Stadium.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

As close as it can be to a wheelchair racing certainty, Cockroft almost didn’t make the start line after catching herself in the spokes of her chair during warm-up, competing with her right hand heavily bandaged.

But as Tropical Storm Mirinae made landfall in Tokyo, there was just no stopping Hurricane Hannah, who took nearly 12 seconds off her Paralympic record from five years ago in a time of 1:48.99, one tenth off her world best from earlier this year.

ParalympicsGB Athletes, Hannah Cockroft aged 29, from Halifax, Kare Adenegan aged 20, from Coventry, after winning gold and silver in the 800m T34 - Women event at the Olympic Stadium during day eleven of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games in Japan. (Picture: PA)ParalympicsGB Athletes, Hannah Cockroft aged 29, from Halifax, Kare Adenegan aged 20, from Coventry, after winning gold and silver in the 800m T34 - Women event at the Olympic Stadium during day eleven of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games in Japan. (Picture: PA)
ParalympicsGB Athletes, Hannah Cockroft aged 29, from Halifax, Kare Adenegan aged 20, from Coventry, after winning gold and silver in the 800m T34 - Women event at the Olympic Stadium during day eleven of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games in Japan. (Picture: PA)

“I’m absolutely gutted,” she joked. “I was so close that to world record, I couldn’t have got closer if I’d tried.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“I’m really happy with gold but I’m obviously a bit frustrated I couldn’t quite squeeze under that time. I did that time in Switzerland on the fastest track in the world, so to come here and nearly replicate it on a rainy day, I’ve got to be proud.

“I put my hand through the wheel while the chair was moving, I’ve never ever done that but I decided to do it today. It was pretty bloody but it’s fine.

“The doctors were leaning towards pulling me out but I was ‘no way’. Even if my hand had fallen off I was going to be on that start line.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Team-mate Kare Adenegan took silver but she was nearly 11 seconds behind, Cockroft taking the lead from the gun and relentlessly building an advantage that was quickly insurmountable.

“In my mind, Kare is always right behind me,” she added. “She’s all I can hear and all I think’s there. I don’t give myself the time to look around but I was comfortable. I knew I was averaging 18mph which I’m fairly confident the other girls can’t hold.”

Adenegan is undoubtably Cockroft’s closest rival but she’s a long way back and the 29-year old is only getting faster, taking nearly 30 seconds off her best time over two laps in the last six years.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Fellow racer David Weir bemoaned the investment in British wheelchairs earlier this week, with Switzerland’s Marcel Hug working with Sauber’s F1 team to design the perfect carbon fibre chariot.

Cockroft wants more money for development too, though you have to wonder how much more she’d win by if you added an appliance of science to her peerless racing skills? However, she credits a new pair of gloves, manufactured on a team-mate’s 3D printer with her best-ever season of times and results.

“This chair has barely changed since I started racing, there’s no investment in it,” she added. “It’s the best it can be but it’s not aerodynamic. I’d love to get involved in the tech side and find out how much quicker I can go.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Sainsbury’s is a proud supporter of ParalympicsGB and a champion of inclusive sport for all. Sainsbury’s commitment to helping customers to eat better has been at the heart of what we do since 1869. For more information on Sainsbury’s visit www.sainsburys.co.uk/ and https://paralympics.org.uk/

Related topics:

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.