On a successful day for GB, Aled Davies broke the world F42 discus record, Richard Whitehead equalled his world T42 200m record and Mel Nicholls and Kare Adenegan joined Cockroft on the podium
Great Britain became the first nation to claim a clean sweep of the medals at the IPC Athletics World Championships in Doha as Hannah Cockroft won the T34 800m title on Wednesday ahead of her team-mates Mel Nicholls and Kare Adenegan.
Cockroft, who broke the championship record with her time of 2:07.10 for victory, adds the 800m title to the 100m gold she claimed last Thursday. Nicholls edged 14-year-old Adenegan for the silver – 2:09.29 to 2:09.66.
“I can’t quite believe it,” said Cockroft, who now has a total of six world gold medals to her name but was contesting her first ever world 800m race.
“I have been so nervous about this competition but I gave it all that I had and I won the gold medal!
“I don’t think any of us can believe that was a British 1-2-3!” she added. “We are the ones to beat now heading into Rio which is very exciting.”
Aled Davies was another to claim a second gold and he did it in style, breaking the world F42 discus record twice. His winning throw of 49.59m secured him victory by more than six metres and the Welshman, who retained the shot put title on the opening day of the championships, bettered his previous world record mark in four of his six attempts.
“I’m delighted because it was one of the most consistent competitions ever for me,” said Davies, who does have a PB of 52.85m but that mark does not count for world record purposes.
“I’m pain free as well which is the main thing.
“Ten weeks ago I never thought I would be here,” added the 24-year-old, who had to undergo a hernia operation. “I probably owe both my gold medals to the British Athletics medical team because they have put a lot of hard work in and without them, I wouldn’t have done it.”
Richard Whitehead also helped to take GB’s gold medal haul to 10 on day seven of the championships as the Paralympic sprint champion equalled the T42 200m world record of 24.10 he had set in the semi-finals the day before.
That mark improved on the 24.38 world record he set in London three years ago, though he had since clocked 24.26 for the half-lap event in Newham in September.
His team-mate Dave Henson, an Invictus Games gold medallist, finished seventh in 27.08.
“I enjoy setting world records but I also enjoy being part of successful team,” said Whitehead after claiming his third successive world T42 200m title. “Other athletes in my event keep pushing me – if the event didn’t move on, I wouldn’t move on.
“I really enjoyed that but it was all about bringing back the gold tonight. Hopefully our performances are inspiring the next bunch of athletes.”
Britain’s Dan Bramall got silver and Toby Gold bronze in a T33 100m final won by Kuwait’s Ahmad Almutairi in a 17.53 championship record, while Kyron Duke bagged bronze in an F41 javelin competition won by China’s Sun Pengxiang with a world record-breaking throw of 43.67m. Sam Bowen finished fifth in the F44 discus, while Claire Harvey placed eighth in the F55 discus.
After having already broken the world T12 200m and 400m records in Doha, Cuba’s Omara Durand smashed her own world 100m record with 11.48, taking 0.17 off her previous best and securing her third gold of the championships.
China’s Cuiqing Liu and Tunisia’s Walid Ktila also completed a hat-trick of victories in Qatar, winning the T11 100m and T34 100m respectively.
France’s Marie-Amelie Le Fur became the first female leg amputee to go under 60 seconds for 400m, winning the T44 event in 59.30 to finish almost four seconds clear and win her second gold in Doha after her long jump title and also a silver medal in the 200m.
“Tonight there were perfect conditions to break the world record,” she said. “My goal was to run under 60 seconds, and I wanted to go for the gold.
“The field was very strong, but I am so happy to be victorious. Now I will be going home to bed and to rest for tomorrow’s 100m T44 event.”
Morocco’s Mohamed Amguoun and China’s Juan Yao also broke world records, in the T13 400m and F44 shot put respectively.
» Full results can be found at paralympic.org
