Hannah Cockroft: No more mistakes before Rio 2016

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Hannah CockroftImage source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Hannah Cockroft says she can come back stronger after her defeat to 14-year old Kare Adenegan last weekend

Hannah Cockroft says she can recover from her first defeat in her own category in over seven years at next month's IPC Athletics World Championships in Doha.

The double Paralympic champion, 23, was beaten over 400m in London last weekend by T34 British rival Kare Adenegan, 14.

"When it happened I was shocked, upset and confused," Cockroft told BBC Sport.

"I went in relaxed and taking it for granted and I messed up but Kare was the better athlete on the day."

Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Cockroft won double gold and broke four Paralympic records in the T34 100m and 200m at the Paralympic Games in 2012

Cockroft had been unbeaten for 300 races in the T34 category for wheelchair athletes.

Adenegan, who will be making her GB debut in the championships which start in Doha on 21 October, was inspired to take up wheelchair racing after watching Cockroft in action at London 2012.

The pair will be in action in Doha in the 100m, where Cockroft will be defending her world title, as well as in the 400m and 800m, and the Yorkshire athlete says the loss means she has more determination to add to her list of successes.

"Losing to Kare has given me the motivation to pick up on those little things I need to improve ahead of Doha," she added. "I can't afford to go into races and make mistakes any more as I've been able to do in the past.

Doha 2015

The first IPC Athletics World Championships took place in Berlin, Germany, in 1994

Doha will be one of the last major competitions before the Paralympic Games in Rio next summer

Held between 21-31 October, the competition will feature around 1,300 athletes from 90 countries

"People were just expecting me to win every race and I wanted them to be excited by what I was doing but they weren't.

"Now I have lost, I hope it will get people to watch me because they won't know the end result and there are athletes who can beat me.

"In Doha the only acceptable result for me is three golds. It will be difficult conditions for us with the heat but I think my experience will count for a lot."

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