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Cockroft predicts a British clean sweep at Paris Paralympic Games

Cockroft has won seven Paralympic golds and has only been beaten on the international stage by her teammate Kare Adenegan
Cockroft has won seven Paralympic golds and has only been beaten on the international stage by her teammate Kare Adenegan

Hannah Cockroft is backing Britain’s wheelchair racers to clinch a stunning clean sweep at the Paris Paralympic Games, writes Sportsbeat's Milly McEvoy.

The seven-time champion, who first took to the track at an event at Loughborough University, will be looking to defend her T34 100m title for the third Games in a row but faces stiff competition from Kare Adenegan, the only athlete to ever beat her on the international stage.

They are likely to be joined by Fabienne André, who has helped form a British and English one-two-three at the 2023 World Championships and 2022 Commonwealth Games.

“In Britain, we've got my main rival Kare Adenegan,” said the 31-year-old, speaking as an ambassador for Dreams, the Official Sleep Partner for Team GB, ParalympicsGB and Special Olympics GB.

“But then there's also a Fabs, Fabienne Andre, my other British teammate, she's just recently taken the step up onto the podium.

“And it's incredible to see a British 1-2-3 at a championships and hopefully, we can do that at the Paralympic Games because I've never seen it at a Paralympic Games, so that would be really good.

“I think it's really realistic for us to get a clean sweep. I've seen how Fabienne is pushing this year, and she's absolutely flying.

“It’s a high, high possibility in the 100m that we could have a British 1-2-3 and that'll be a very special moment.”

Dreams will be supporting their ambassadors in the lead up to the Games by ensuring they get the best night's sleep to aid recovery on their journey.

As a trusted partner, Dreams is providing support for every ParalympicsGB athlete in Paris via a sleep pack, which includes cooling pillow protectors that help regulate temperature, a mattress topper for supreme comfort, as well as a variety of other sleep accessories to ensure all athletes can get the sleep they need to perform at their best.

Cockroft is entering the latter stages of her storied career that has seen her win seven Paralympic titles and 14 world crowns.

The generation inspired by the London Paralympic Games have reached the global stage and still cannot catch Cockroft, so instead she is hoping Paris can reignite the spark and carry on her legacy.

She added: “We have this incredible opportunity to have a games back in Europe, back where we know that people really do support parasport and support disability sport.

“And it's what the Paralympic Movement needs. It's been 12 years since 2012, that's an entire generation of young people who haven't really watched the Paralympic games because of, you know, time differences or where it's been held, and haven't really been given the exposure to it.

“The more we can expose them to it, the bigger the sport will get and we'll get that excitement that we had around London 2012.

“I think that's what we're really missing, the excitement and people really wanting to watch what we do, I do believe that there are people out there, we just have to open them up to it.”

Dreams, the UK’s leading bed retailer, has been helping the nation find ‘The Bed’ for almost 40 years. Dreams has invested in innovative Sleepmatch technology in all its stores and is proud to be the Official Sleep Partner for Team GB, ParalympicsGB and Special Olympics GB.