Rio Paralympics 2016: Hannah Cockroft wins second gold of games

 

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By Nilesh Patel

  • Team GB athletics medal haul increases to 13 golds, 25 in total
  • Hannah Cockroft breaks record in T34 400m final
  • Kadeena Cox sets new world record in T38 400m
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Team GB take their medal tally up to 43 golds on day seven of the Paralympic games.

 

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Last night’s action saw Hannah Cockroft win her second gold of the games, as she added the T34 400m title to her 100m triumph on Saturday.

Cockroft’s gold helped Team GB’s medal total eclipse London 2012’s tally on day seven.

Her gold was even more impressive as she created a new track record in her event, the 24-year-old golden girl from Halifax finished with a time of 58.78secs and was significantly ahead the other athletes.

In the same race, 15-year-old Briton – Kare Adenegan – finished third to claim her second medal of this Paralympic games. The youngster will be one to watch in future Paralympics and world championships as she won silver (behind Cockroft) in the T34 100m final.

The T34 events are classified for specifically wheelchair athletes with cerebral palsy or similar neurological conditions.

For Cockroft, however, she will hope her 2016 accomplishments don’t climax here as she will aim to win treble gold in Friday’s 800m final.

Another golden girl was Kadeena Cox, who also won her second gold of the games in the T38 400m final, which was her third medal of the games.

What’s more magnificent with Cox’s wins is that they weren’t just in athletics. Cox’s first gold came in the C4-5 time trial on the cycing track where she recorded a best-ever time. Correspondingly in yesterday’s 400m win she set a world record of one minute 0.71secs.

As well as the velodrome success, Cox won bronze in T38 100m final; which was her second medal at Rio.

Cox, 25, is classified as an athlete with cerebral palsy or similar conditions who is ambulant and has the ability to run/cycle. The 25-year-old can now call herself the fastest ever cyclist and sprinter in her classification and can put herself among Britain’s greatest Paralympic athletes.

The fourth and final medal on day seven’s athletics programme for Team GB was claimed in the women’s T35 100m final as Maria Lyle won her first ever Paralympic medal. Lyle, at the age of just 16 took bronze in the event with a time of 14.41secs and already has five European golds to her name. The Scottish youngster, is classified as an athlete with conditions similar to cerebral palsy who has the ability to run.

Again on the athletics track, David Weir cruised in to the final of the men’s T54 800m, qualifying as fastest in his heat at 1:37.30secs. Weir is defending his 800m title he won at Beijing 2008 and London 2012.

You can watch Weir’s title defence at 20:00 BST in today’s athletics programme.