PARALYMPICS LONDON 2012: Cockroft admits own T34 200 metres doubts

By Paul Smith, Sportsbeat, London 2012

SHE stormed the 200m field winning gold by more than two seconds, but amazingly Great Britain's Hannah Cockroft anticipated defeat as she lined up for the final.

Despite her earlier T34 100m victory, Cockroft considered the longer distance more of a challenge.

As 80,000 fans in the Olympic Stadium roared their approval when she was introduced on the start line, the Halifax star was a bundle of nerves.

DOUBTING: Hannah Cockroft doubted her own chancwes of winning gold in the T34 200m, but she blew the field away

But her fears proved unfounded as she raced clear to win in a new Paralympic record time of 31.90 seconds. Silver medallist Amy Siemons, of the Netherlands, was way adrift in a time of 34.16secs.

"I was so nervous before that race, I wasn't very confident that I was going to win it," said the 20-year-old.

"I thought the other girls were going to go for me because they had nothing else to race for, that was it.

"So I was very nervous going into the race and I was kind of doubting it a little bit.

"It's all about remembering what I have trained for and technically it was the best race I have done here.

"I hit my highest speed on the track and I was very happy."

Lloyds TSB, proud supporter of ParalympicsGB and proud partner of the London 2012 Paralympic Games. Get closer to the Games at lloydstsb.com/london2012

Sportsbeat 2012