Hannah Cockrofts medal haul grows at World Para Champs
Written by I Dig SportsBritish wheelchair racer wins 16th world title as she takes the T34 800m crown with team-mate Aled Davies winning F63 shot put gold in Japan
Hannah Cockroft notched up world title No.16 and her fifth world T34 800m crown as her great form continued at the World Para Championships in Kobe, Japan.
After taking the 800m title on Friday (May 24) she returned to the track 50 minutes later to join GB team-mates Zac Shaw, Kevin Santos and Ali Smith in winning universal 4x100m silver behind China.
The gold rush for the GB team carried on during Saturday (May 25) too as Aled Davies won the won the F63 shot put title.
Cockroft clocked 1:52.79, her fastest ever time at a worlds, and said: Sixteen world titles is like one world title for every year I have been racing so I am very happy. Two races within 50 minutes of each other was a big ask. I was testing it here to see if I could actually handle it. But to go out [in the 800m] and get a good start and relax something which I dont feel like I did so well in the heat yesterday Im not upset with a 1:52 and championship record in mid-May. There is a lot of work to do, so I can only get faster from here.
To finish on a night like this has been amazing. To do what I did in the 800m, and then come back and get a silver in the relay is what I hoped for, but I dont know if I believed I could do it. But it is the perfect ending, and it has given me a massive confidence booster ahead of the rest of the year and the Paralympic Games.
Davies, who turned 33 the day prior to his final, added world title No.10 to his collection with a series which saw him win by almost a metre ahead of Irans Faisal Sorour. The Welshman got off to a solid start with a 15.50m effort in round one, leading by a significant margin in the early stages of the competition. A foul in round two was followed by his furthest attempt of them all, going out to 15.60m.
He said: I love competing, and over the last two years with injury, I havent been able to do what I have wanted to do. I have only been back throwing pain free for about ive weeks, so I knew I was throwing myself in the deep end here with my class being stronger than ever. I just love trying to throw as far as possible.
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I just need two months of work. Then Ill be ready to go after that world record. Today, we got the job done, perhaps it was pretty ugly, but it is another world title which I am delighted with. There are so many things I am going to take away which I am going to apply in Paris. I am looking forward to coming back and throwing further than ever.
The GB & NI squad ended the Championships with 12 medals overall and finished fourth place in the medal table with the Paris Paralympic Games on the horizon.
Full results here.