The 29-year-old lowered her own global best by 0.18 seconds at the National Stadium in Tokyo, with compatriot Kare Adenegan finishing in second; the six-time Paralympic champion will return to the track for the 800m on the penultimate day of the Games
Sunday 29 August 2021 14:37, UK
Hannah Cockroft picked up the sixth gold medal of her illustrious Paralympic career by powering to T34 100 victory in a world-record time of 16.39.
The 29-year-old lowered her own global best by 0.18 seconds at the National Stadium in Tokyo, with compatriot Kare Adenegan in second.
Silver medallist Adenegan, who finished in a time of 17.03, made the stronger start of the two before her dominant team-mate surged clear to once again claim top spot on the podium.
Glory moved Cockroft a step closer to a long-term target of surpassing the 11 Paralympic medals Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson won between 1992 and 2004. She can close that gap further in the 800m final on Saturday.
"I honestly didn't know that time was within me," Cockroft said. "I knew that Kare was going to move out of the blocks, and I had to go with her as best I could.
"She just pulled a good time out of me. It has been coming, it has always been there hiding, it has just taken a few years to show its face."
Asked about potentially topping the haul of Paralympic racing great Grey-Thompson, she replied: "I'm halfway and I'm three Games in. I'm 29, guys! I don't know if I can do another three Games.
"It's there, it's in the distance. This sport has changed so much since Tanni. She left a legacy, we just have to keep bringing more young girls into the sport. If I have to keep beating them, awesome."
Cockroft has established herself as one of her country's most recognisable Para athletes after bursting on to the scene with two golds at London 2012 and then adding a further three in Rio four years later.
The 12-time world champion lowered her own global records in the 100m, 200m, 400m and 800m at the World Para Athletics Grand Prix in Switzerland in May and resumed her spellbinding form in the Japanese capital.
She arrived as clear favourite as the only competitor to have dipped below 17 seconds this year. Adenegan appeared to be the biggest threat to the crown and so it proved.
The 20-year-old from Coventry, competing in the adjacent lane, gave her fellow Briton a major scare by flying out of the blocks before ultimately being overhauled as she settled for second spot and a season's best.
"There was definite panic there," Cockroft admitted. "The 100m, when you're sitting on that start line, looks so short. She went, and I thought, 'I haven't got enough time. I need 120.'
"You just need to get your head down, get your arms moving. I had no idea how those girls were pushing, we hadn't raced together. I had raced Kare once this year. It was a shock all around."
Cockroft's gold on the track adds to the two won by Thomas Young and Sophie Hahn in the T38 100m events on Saturday. She will return for the 800m on the penultimate day of the Games.
