WPAC 2025: Unbeaten Hannah Cockroft powers her way to 28th global gold; India gets best haul (Ld)

New Delhi, Oct 4 (IANS) Unbeaten Hannah Cockroft enshrined herself among all-time greats by completing a sweep of women’s T34 gold medals at stake in the 2025 World Para Athletics Championships at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here on Saturday. It was her 19th gold medal in eight appearances in the World Championships.

The versatile Hannah Cockroft has been a stranger to defeat in four Paralympic Games since 2012 and in eight editions of World Championships since making her debut in Christchurch 2011. Along the way, she has picked up nine gold medals at the Paralympics and a whopping 19 gold medals in World Championships in distances ranging from 100m to 800m.

The home team can also draw satisfaction at having claimed its best haul of 18 medals in any edition of the World Para Athletics Championships, improving on the tally of 17 (6 gold, 5 silver, 6 bronze) won in Kobe last year. India had won 10 medals in the World Para Athletics Championships for the first time in Paris in 2023.

India added two silver medals through Ekta Bhyan (women’s Club Throw F51) and Soman Rana (men’s Shot Put F57), as well as a bronze through Pradeep Kumar (men’s High Jump T64). It swelled the home team’s haul in New Delhi 2025 to 18, including 6 gold, 7 silver, and 5 bronze. India was placed sixth after Iran and Colombia overtook it on Saturday.

Soman Rana had originally been declared the winner of the bronze medal in the men’s Shot Put F57, but the Jury upheld a protest and nullified a 14.82m throw by Brazil’s Thiago Paulino Dos Santos, leading to the Indian being upgraded to silver. The Brazilian slid to fifth position with Finland’s Teijo Koopikka landing the bronze medal.

Despite that setback, Brazil remained unchallenged at the top of the table with 12 gold, 18 silver and 7 bronze while China stayed in second place (9-18-14) ahead of Poland (8-2-5) on an evening when Levin Moreno Denis (Colombia) in the men’s Shot Put F38 (20.38m) and Iran’s Yasin Khosravi in the men’s Shot Put F57 (16.60m) accounted for new World Records.

For all that. Saturday evening was headlined by Hannah Cockroft and her third gold medal in New Delhi 2025. With five gold medals, only Catherine Debrunner (Switzerland) has made more visits to the top of the podium than the Briton. Thailand’s Pongsakorn Paeyo is another athlete who will return with three gold medals, having won the 100, 400, and 800 men’s T53 events.

Though the 33-year-old Hannah Cockroft had spoken about wanting to prove that she has more left as an athlete, she would have been well aware that she would not be challenged. Clearly, her race was against the clock as she powered her wheelchair to a big lead by the time she had negotiated the first bend and finished the two laps with a Championship record.

Hannah Cockroft revealed she had not been thinking about the number of global gold medals. “I'm buzzing with that one (800m), actually. I think that's the performance I'm most proud of. Anything sub-1.50 is really good in the 800. So yeah, I'm happy to come away. We've been working really hard in the 800 this year, and to be honest, it's been going really well,” she said.

Her 24-year-old compatriot Kare Adenegan, who had the rare pleasure of beating Hannah Cockroft in a European Championship 100m final in 2018, was content to take her third silver medal here. She did not seek to keep pace with Hannah Cockroft but focused on keeping Chinese contented 18-year-old Lan Hanyu at bay for the second time in three days.

--IANS

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