COCKROFT SETS SIGHTS ON MORE WORLDS SUCCESS IN KOBE

Hannah Cockroft (coach: Paul Moseley, club: Leeds) has her eyes firmly set on “crossing the line first” at this week’s World Para Athletics Championships which get underway on Friday 17 May and run until Saturday 25 in Kobe, Japan.

The multiple Paralympic and world champion was speaking at the official World Para Athletics press conference at the eve of the Championships taking place at the Kobe Universiade Memorial Stadium.

Cockroft will contest the T34 100m, 800m and 4x100m Universal Relay over the nine days of competition, with the 100m heats first up for the reigning champion on Tuesday 21 May.

At the press conference she said, “This is my seventh World Championships, and for me, coming into these events is always about crossing that line first.

“Para athletes have never had the opportunity to race in two major Championships in the same season before, so for this to be opening my season ahead of hopefully a very successful Paralympic Games, is incredibly exciting and very scary too.”

Cockroft will contest heats in all of her events, as she did in Paris last year, and she added, “I have a lot of new girls on the start line going up against me, so it is great to have a lot of new competition and I’m really looking forward to the challenge.”

The first day of action gets underway in the early hours of Friday morning [UK time] with Kevin Santos (Mike Utting, City of Norwich) [T47 100m heats] and Zac Shaw (Leon Baptiste, Cleethorpes) [T12 100m heats] getting underway during the first session.

The evening sees Hollie Arnold (Scott Knighton, Blackheath and Bromley) go for a sixth world title in the F46 javelin, with Santos in the T47 100m final should he progress from the morning heats. Reigning Paralympic champion Thomas Young (Joe McDonnell, Charnwood) starts his Championships in the sprint heats during the evening session.

The 2024 World Para Athletics Championships will be live on the IPC YouTube channel HERE. 

Start lists and results can be found HERE.