Hurricane Hannah Cockroft extends world championship T34 winning streak to 13 years

The phenomenal Halifax athlete won her seventh career T34 100m world title in Kobe, Japan, continuing a streak of global dominance in the event that stretches back 13 years.

Cockroft was at her majestic best as she won the global title in an event she first rose to prominence in in Christchurch, way back in 2011.

It means the 31-year-old from the City of Leeds Athletics Club now has 13 golds across the wheelchair racing distances from seven world championships to go with seven gold medals from three Paralympic Games.

Later this week she can add to her global tally in the 800m and the relay, and later this summer goes for more golden glory at the Paralympics in Paris.

Having blasted her way to a championship record time of 16.75 seconds in the morning’s heats, Cockroft returned in the slightly cooler temperatures of the Kobe evening to win the final in a time of 16.89 seconds.

A delighted and relieved Cockroft said: “Number seven – that sounds amazing.

“Every title at this point is a relief. I watch my team-mates and see the excitement and the happiness, and I want to respond like that but when I cross that line it is a sigh of relief because I am the one with the target on my back.

“I’m the one that everyone is watching. In the call room, everything I did, I felt every set of eyes on me.

“I was the only one who wore a jacket in call this morning and then tonight, everyone had one on.

“The 100m is the hard one, so I am delighted to win the title, and I am looking forward to the 800m and relay now.”

A new crop of emerging talent is set to keep Cockroft honest in her pursuit of yet more glory as these world championships continue and the run into the Paris Paralympics heats up, with China’s Lan Hanyu coming home second and her British team-mate Fabienne Andre finishing fourth in the T34 100m.

“Coming to this world championship was all about seeing all these new girls who are coming through,” said Cockroft.

“I knew they’d be around for the Paris Paralympic Games, so for me it was about grabbing the opportunity to see where they were at, and I can see there is a lot of talent. I think over the next few years I am going to have some battles on my hands.

"But hopefully right now I’ve sent a message that I am pushing strong, and I am still on top.

“I’ve got the 800m heats on Thursday which I’m really excited for. We’ve never had heats for the event at a worlds before so that is very exciting and shows the amount of girls coming through.

"We are missing my team-mate Kare Adenegan, and the Americans, so the numbers are growing in the event. And then I have the relay which is a big challenge, and I really want to do the team proud.”

Andre added: “It is great to see so many T34s coming through, it makes the class really competitive. It makes me want to work harder.”