Cockroft content with rising wheelchair challenge after being beaten into silver in Berlin

Sportsbeat
Cockroft (right) and Kare Adenegan led the way for Great Britain. Pic: Ben Booth Photography
Cockroft (right) and Kare Adenegan led the way for Great Britain. Pic: Ben Booth Photography

Hannah Cockroft’s wheelchair racing domination could well be over but the Halifax athlete insists she doesn’t mind the changing tide.

Throughout her career, Cockroft has been head and shoulders above the rest, with five Paralympic titles and ten world gold medals making up an unmatchable collection.

But after being beaten for the second time in a month by teenage hotshot and fellow Brit Kare Adenegan, Cockroft knows her domination won’t last forever.

The 26-year-old was in action at the World Para Athletics European Championships, stopping the clock in 17.95 seconds in the T34 100m – more than half a second quicker than the Championship record she set in Swansea four years ago.

Unfortunately for her, Adenegan was even quicker, 17.38s her time, though the Yorkshire racer couldn’t feel too disappointed in the Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark.

“I have known that Kare has been pushing really well all season and I made it very clear at the start of the season that I was going to go away and focus on other things,” she said.

“I have got myself a job, that is what I wanted to do. Maybe it was the wrong thing to do, you come here and think ‘have I lost something’ but I am 26 and I have to think about the future.

“Wheelchair racing wise, Britain’s future is sealed with Kare. I know that I am safe, I know that I have come back stronger next year.

“Big up Kare, it was a fantastic race and it was a new experience for me sitting on that second step I couldn’t have come second to anyone better.”

Cockroft’s European Championships aren’t over yet however, with Saturday’s T34 800m next on her agenda.

It’s a race she goes into with confidence too – just as long as hampered preparations from her 100m outing aren’t repeated.

“I feel like I could have done better in that if we had a warm up lap, sitting around for 40 minutes before a race wasn’t the best,” she added.

“Training has been going a lot, lot better than that race just showed, but now it’s about getting ready for the 800m.”

British Athletics works alongside UK Sport and the National Lottery to support the delivery of success at the world’s most significant sporting events, principally the Olympic and Paralympic Games. They do this via the funded initiative, the World Class Programme, one part of the British Athletics pathway.