Victoria Levitt claimed gold on her senior international debut while Hannah Cockroft earned an 18th world title on day five of the World Para Athletics Championships.
The two golds contributed to a brilliant day for the Novuna Great Britain & Northern Ireland team as they added another six medals to their New Delhi haul. Competing at her first-ever World Championships, Levitt (Mansfield) stormed to T44 100m gold in 13.22 seconds.
“I’m still shell-shocked. I can’t believe this is what I’ve walked away with,” she said. “I just wanted to get out first, lead all the way through and then when I crossed the line and didn’t see anybody else, I was like, ‘Does this mean I’m first?’
“Being world champion is probably the scariest thing I’ve ever heard – and probably will take some time to sink in.” Cockroft (Paul Moseley, Leeds) doubled her gold medal tally in New Delhi to claim her 18th World Championship title in the T34 100m final. She finished first in 17.28 seconds and insisted there is still more to come.
“I thought the time would be quicker but ultimately it’s all about the medals,” she said. “There’s definitely more work to be done. I’d like to be going a bit quicker than that, but thankfully it was enough.
“I’m never satisfied. I feel like I’m not there yet. I know there’s better to come and I can go quicker. I think that’s what keeps you going – there are so many new girls competing.
“There are new faces popping up all the time but I work so hard and that’s what drives me on. I want to prove that I’m only 33 and I’ve got more left. I’m not done yet!”
Karé Adenegan (Arno Mul, Coventry) completed a British one-two to claim her second silver medal of the championships as she clocked 18.08 seconds. “I’m really happy with that – it’s a season’s best,” she reflected.
“I’d really have liked to go sub-18, but it’s an improvement of what I’ve done this year and shows that I’m going in the right direction. I’ve made a lot of changes and it shows it is paying off gradually. It shows the progression after a challenging season.
“It’s those marginal gains, how you get them and being patient with the process.” Fabienne André (Chris Parsloe, Sutton & District) also competed in the final, achieving a fifth-place finish in 19.63 seconds.
Levitt also had British company in her final as Bebe Jackson (Alan James, Woodford Green, Essex Ladies) raced to a medal on her senior international debut. The 19-year-old clocked 13.63 to clinch the podium spot and seal a dream bow on the world stage.
Melanie Woods (Rodger Harkins, Red Star) also added to her tally as she claimed a second bronze medal in New Delhi in the morning session. Woods raced to a third-place finish in the T54 1500m, to add to her 800m bronze, in a time of 3:19.75.
“Two medals out of two races – what more could you ask for,” she reflected. “I wanted to be up in the mix early and hold that line, I knew it would be tactical.
“So, I just had to stay in there and be ready for it to pick up the pace and hold on as long as possible.” Didi Okoh (Tony Hadley, Birchfield Harriers) made sure the medals did not let up as she rounded out the day’s medals with bronze in the T63 100m final.
Okoh’s strong start helped her stay in contention right to the line where she timed her dip to perfection to finish third in 14.66 seconds. “I just thought, ‘Let me have fun with it.’ I wrote it on my wrist – I wrote ‘core’, because I needed to hold that, I wrote ‘keep calm’ and I wrote ‘just enjoy it,’” she said.
“I feel like I went and achieved all that. I left everything out on the track. I was leading for most of it so for me to put that out and actually lead the first half of the race, I could not be more proud of myself.”
Olivia Breen (Aston Moore, City of Portsmouth) came close to boosting the medal tally further as she finished fourth in the T38 long jump. She jumped a personal best 5.17 metres with her first jump to place her just outside the podium spots in a competitive final that saw the world record broken twice.
Maddie Down (Mike Bennett, Halesowen) finished a place behind Breen in fifth as she broke five metres for the first time in competition with a jump of 5.04 metres. Zak Skinner (Aston Moore, Loughborough Students) also finished just outside of the podium places in the T13 long jump final as he had to settle for fourth with a jump of 6.80 metres.
Nathan Maguire (Ste Hoskins, Kirkby) and Sophie Hahn (Joe McDonnell, Charnwood) ensured progression to their respective finals in the qualifiers, too. Maguire clocked 2:53.36 in his T54 1500m heat to qualify third fastest, while Hahn ran a season’s best 27.04 seconds in her T38 200m heat to book a place in the final today.
