Hannah Cockroft relishing whole new coaching challenge

Hannah Cockroft has conquered the world umpteen times over but now she is getting to grips with a whole new challenge. The seven-time Paralympic champion from Halifax has been coaching 17-year-old T54 wheelchair racer Anya Waugh since September 2020. Ad The pair met when Waugh was just seven, and Cockroft has seen the youngster from Stalybridge go from strength to strength under her tutelage.

AthleticsParalympian Jonnie Peacock insists 'the fire is back'4 HOURS AGO And Cockroft, who was speaking at the launch of ParalympicsGB's new initiative Every Body Moves powered by Toyota, was proud as punch with her student's progress. «Coaching is definitely a challenge,» said Cockroft. «It's really interesting and exciting seeing the talent that's coming through.

»My lockdown project was my coaching exams and here we are!" «Hopefully we'll see big things from it. But most importantly, she enjoys it and that's all I care about. »I don't care if she wants to be Paralympic champion or not as long as she's out there having fun then I'm doing the right thing." The pair raced at Waugh's first British Athletics Championships three years ago and the teenager made her Diamond League debut in Birmingham last April.

And having knocked off almost two seconds from her 100m personal best, and nearly 17 from her 800m, Cockroft is delighted to start building a material legacy from her medal-laden career. Cockroft said: «To be able to put her on those big stages and talk her through it, passing on some of the advice I've been lucky enough to acquire over my career makes me feel it was all worth it. »It's going somewhere.