7th September 2024

Cockroft gets her ninth Paralympic gold as Okoh wins first medal

Hannah Cockroft stormed to her ninth Paralympic title on the final night of athletics in Paris, with four British athletes reaching the podium in all.

Cockroft (Paul Moseley, Leeds) finished 7.66 seconds ahead of teammate Kare Adenegan (Job King, Coventry) in a British one-two in the women’s T34 800m final to claim her second gold of the Games.

Performing in front of a packed Paris crowd, the 32-year-old got that London 2012 feeling all over again.

“I just couldn’t wait to get out here,” she said. “The atmosphere was amazing, I could feel the noise following me around, it’s like being back in London, I love it.

“It is just amazing. This is how many people love para sport. This is what we want to see, give us the opportunity to race.”

Cockroft clocked a time of 1:55.44 to continue her stunning unbeaten record at the Paralympics.

Meanwhile Adenegan was pleased with her fight as she claimed silver and a seventh Paralympic medal.

Adenegan finished comfortably ahead of Eva Houston of the USA in third, with Fabienne André (Richard Chiassaro, Harlow) in fourth.

Adenegan said: “I feel so happy, I feel really blessed because that 800 was hard. I was having to give absolutely everything at the end.

“My arms were dying. I feel so proud of that because I felt I had to fight for it.”

Andre was closing on Houston in the final 200m but ran out of track to chase her down and claim a first Paralympic medal.

“Obviously it’s gutting not to get third but I tried my best and I did the best push I could,” she said.

“It’s a great experience for me and I know I have more to give when I’ve gone back and made a few changes. I’m excited to get back into training.”

Didi Okoh (Joe McDonnell, Chelmsford) was in disbelief as she claimed bronze from her debut final with a PB time of 14.59 in the women’s T63 final.

The sprinter had earlier broken the T42 Paralympic record to advance to the showpiece and was the last track athlete to make their Paris bow.

Okoh claimed bronze but faced a long wait to confirm it following a review which saw Italy’s Monica Graziana Contrafatto upgraded to joint-bronze having been taken out centimetres before the finish line by her falling compatriot Ambra Sabatini.

Okoh dipped below her heat time to win bronze and finish behind gold medallist Martina Caironi of Italy and Karisma Evi Tiarani of Indonesia, who set a new world and Paralympic T42 record.

“Anything can happen in a race, a 100m is always full of surprises and this happened to be one,” she said.

“I am very happy, I am very sad for the other Italians that were in the race, I can imagine that is a lot to be so close to the line and have it gone in a split second.

“I’m really proud for pushing myself to the line because my one goal was a PB, I wanted to run a really good race and just put on a show, hopefully I did.”

Aled Davies (Ryan Spencer-Jones, Cardiff) is taking the silver linings of claiming his first Paralympic men’s F63 shot put silver and completing the set.

The Welshman’s third throw of 15.10m saw him finish just behind Kuwait’s Faisal Sorour of Kuwait, who took gold with a throw of 15.31.

Davies, who won gold in London, Rio and Tokyo, said: “I would have been devastated to be going home empty-handed. I thought I’d won bronze, I only found out in the call room it was silver – a silver lining, I suppose.

“To see the top six throwing over the old world record is magnificent and I’m so proud of how the event is coming on.”

Ali Smith ended her Paris experience with a personal best and just missed out on a second medal of the Games in the women’s T38 400m.

The 35-year-old finished only 0.51 seconds off the podium in sixth as Colombia’s Karen Tatiana Palomeque Moreno claimed gold in a world record time.

Smith said: “Expectations changed. I was really pleased just to make the final yesterday, then on the line I thought ‘I’m fourth coming into this, let’s have a go’.

“I’m really pleased but it’s hard to be too pleased with sixth, I ran out of time and legs.”