Tokyo Paralympics – Day 11: track and field success for ParalympicsGB

With just one day to go until the end of Tokyo 2020, Great Britain’s Paralympians showed no signs of slowing down – they added four more golds and a raft of other medals to the tally.

Hannah Cockroft secured her seventh Paralympic gold after a dominant win in the T34 800m, taking nearly 12 seconds off her Paralympic record with a time of 1:48.99. It is her second gold of the Tokyo Games after a win in the 100m event. The silver medal went to Warwick’s own Kare Adenegan, who put in a personal best of 1:59.85 to triumph over bronze medallist Alexa Haiko of the USA. It is her second medal of the Games after taking silver behind Cockroft in the 100m, and her fifth medal overall.

Speaking to the Coventry Telegraph, Adenegan said: “I’m so happy with a personal best and to go sub two minutes for the first time on the international stage, I raced it by myself as well. At the World Championships it was a super close race between myself and Alexa but that was a really comfortable second place. I did what I expected and wanted here and to get two season’s bests when it matters and it shows that all the hard work to peak on time paid off. It’s been a really tough couple of years for all of us, so I’m really pleased with how I performed.”

Cockroft is co-captain of the British athletics team for these Games – the other co-captain, Aled Sion Davies, also picked up a gold today after success in the F63 shot put. Davies led from the second round of the event, and threw an impressive 15.33m in the torrential rain to retain the Paralympic title and take his third shot put medal.

There were medals in the water, with a British one-two in the KL2 200m Para-canoeing – Charlotte Henshaw took the gold, while Emma Wiggs won silver. The pair were the favourites for the win, and both pulled away from the field early on the set the pace. In the end, it was Henshaw who took the lead, winning in a personal best of 50.670, with her teammate finishing in 51.409, more than a second ahead of the nearest competitor. Another gold followed in the KL3 Para-canoeing, as Laura Sugar with a Paralympic best time of 49.582, while Stuart Wood took bronze in the VL3 200m final. Britain’s canoeists finish Tokyo 2020 with seven medals, putting them at the top of the sport’s medal table.

In the Games’ debut of badminton, Dan Bethell won silver in the SL3 singles final after a 21-14 21-17 defeat to Indian world champion Pramod Bhagat. It was also silver for Jordanne Whiley and Lucy Shuker in the wheelchair tennis women’s double after a defeat to the Dutch top seeds. Britain was guaranteed bronze in the men’s singles tennis, and it was Gordon Reid who claimed it, defeating his teammate Alfie Hewett 6-4 3-6 7-5. Amy Truesdale took taekwondo bronze after recovering through the repechage, but there was no luck for Kadeena Cox, who came fourth in the T38 400m.

Medal table:

1. China

Gold (93), Silver (57), Bronze (50), Total (200)

2. Great Britain

Gold (41), Silver (38), Bronze (43), Total (122)

3. Russian Paralympic Committee

Gold (36), Silver (32), Bronze (49), Total (117)

4. USA

Gold (35), Silver (36), Bronze (30), Total (101)

5. The Netherlands

Gold (25), Silver (17), Bronze (16), Total (58)