Hannah Cockroft wins 100m gold in record time

Wheelchair racer Hannah Cockroft destroyed the field and the Paralympic record to claim gold in the T34 100 metres at a packed Olympic Stadium last night.

The 20-year-old had the race won by halfway as she crossed the line in 18.06 seconds, almost one-and-a-half seconds clear of Holland’s Amy Siemons.

The Halifax athlete, who has cerebral palsy, had already broken the Paralympic record in qualifying yesterday morning and no one could get close to stopping her taking the title.

Cockroft, who was greeted by a huge roar when introduced to the screaming fans, had admitted after her 18.24secs clocking in the heats she was “a little scared” by the atmosphere. But there were no sign of nerves whatsoever on the big occasion. Cockroft, who was the first person to set a world record in the stadium earlier this year, got off to a typically explosive start and never looked back. Only a slight head wind denied her the chance to attack her own world record of 17.60s.

David Weir produced a performance of supreme confidence to qualify in style for the final of the T54 5,000m.

Weir, who won Great Britain’s only athletics golds with a double four years ago in Beijing, controlled the race before hitting the accelerator on the final lap.

He could afford to slow down on the home straight and rolled nonchalantly across the line in 11 minutes 28.88 seconds. He said: “It’s a really great feeling. I did have nerves, but they were good nerves. I didn’t panic at all.”

Earlier, Briton Aled Davies claimed bronze in the F42/44 shot put. Denmark’s Jackie Christiansen took gold ahead of Croatian Darko Kralj.