Hannah Cockroft MBE

1. Tell us about yourself and how you got the nickname Hurricane Hannah?

Sure! I'm Hannah Lucy Cockroft MBE, DL (Deputy Lieutenant), I'm 27 years old and I'm a wheelchair racer on the Great Britain Paralympic Athletics Team. I'm 5 time Paralympic Champion, 12 time World Champion and World Record Holder in the T34 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m and 1500m. I had 2 heart attacks at birth, which left me with brain damage, deformed legs and feet and problems with my mobility, balance and fine motor skills, so I race in the T34 classification, which is for athletes with Cerebral Palsy and brain damage. I picked up the nickname 'Hurricane Hannah' during the London 2012 Paralympic Games. It was penned by Channel 4 during my first ever Paralympic race and just kind of stuck! Hurricanes leave destruction in their path, so I'd like to think it means I tear up the track when I race, and hopefully nothing worse!

2. What do you think has been your biggest sporting achievement?

My biggest sporting achievement has hopefully not happened yet! My races every year are getting harder and harder to win, as the competition gets stronger and grows throughout the World, so I definitely think that my greatest achievement is yet to come. But so far, it's probably my 5 Paralympic Golds, as they're the pinnacle of every athletes career and the thing that everyone dreams of winning, and I've managed to come out on top a few times, so that's something to be proud of. But I think the race I see as my biggest achievement was the 100m at the 2019 World Championships in Dubai. In 2018, my team mate Kare Adenegan broke my World Record at the Anniversary Games, and was the first T34 female to go under 17 seconds over the distance, something I had been aiming for for about 7 years! So when I was able to take my 11th World title, in a new World Record time, in a time I had been chasing for so long (16.77 seconds), in the first World Championship race I had ever entered as not the favourite to win, I couldn't believe it!

3. With Tokyo 2020 now being moved to 2021 how does this effect your training routine?

My training is carrying on as normal as it possibly can, I still have to be ready for the summer as the 'Muller Anniversary Games' are currently still going ahead, and our European Championships still have a chance of happening later in the summer, so I still need to be race ready and fast for those. We had planned this year to have a double peak in training anyway, once in May and then again for the Paralympic Games, so for now, I'm still just working towards those peaks until more information is released. Obviously, training has had to change a little, as gyms and tracks are closed, but I'm doing the best I can with equipment I have at home for gym and using training rollers and local roads to replicate track sessions.

4. What does your diet consist of in order to train for major events (other than strawberry laces!)?

My diet is mainly just sensible eating! I don't ban myself from eating anything as then it's all you crave and think about, so if i want a little bit of chocolate, I allow it. I train hard enough to work it off. But I try to stick to high protein, low carbs (except the day before race day, as the energy is needed, especially when we have 4 or 5 races in a day, which we frequently have at domestic competition) and plenty of fruit and vegetables. I always have a strawberry lace in call room though, just for that little energy kick before hitting the start line!

5. Who do you see as your biggest rival other than Kare Adenegan?

I see every girl on the start line as my biggest rival. I'm always watching for little snippets of their training online, or for their race meet results, as there are so many girls that are up and coming, any of them could make a big jump at any time. They're all world class athletes, as they're on the start lines of World Championships and Paralympic Games, so they're the best in their countries and in the World. Alexa Halko from the USA is always on the podium with me so I'm always interested to see how she'll race at a Championships, but Robyn Lambird from Australia was Number 1 in the World rankings for months last year, so even though she's fairly new to the sport, she's coming through the ranks quickly.

6. What music gets you motivated before a race?

I always listen to Skepta, 'Hold on' before a race. It has a line in it that says 'you are undefeatable' which I think is a good line to have in your head before you go out on the track, but I have a whole playlist that I listen to during warm up, everything from Fort Minor to Beyonce, so it really depends on what mood I'm in and how confident I'm feeling.

7. How are you staying active whilst you are in lockdown?

I'm still following pretty much the same training schedule as when we're training normally- 6 chair sessions and 2 strength sessions a week. My chair sessions are split between rollers and local roads depending mostly on the weather, and my strength sessions are done using a couple of dumbbells that I borrowed from my strength & conditioning coach before we went into lock down and a ski erg that I recently bought. It's not much but it's enough to get you feeling it the next day! Other than that, I'm just trying to use my one outing a day everyday and get out on a walk around my local area. I moved over the Chester a year ago, so it's been nice to discover new parts of my new home that I haven't had time to explore before.

8. What are your plans for wheelchair racing over the next 5 years?

Right now, my plans are just to keep going! It's going to be a busy few years now the Paralympics have moved up a year, it backs up a lot of other major events. We originally had a Paralympics and a European Championships this year, and a World Championships next year, so always something to work for, but now both have been postponed, it could mean all 3 majors in 2021! I wasn't sure, initially, if I was going to continue onto Paris in 2024, but now it'll be one year closer, what's another 3 years of training after Tokyo?!

9. What advice would you give to people who want to achieve as much as you?

I'd say just find something you love, so it doesn't feel like a chore having to do it every year and say yes to every opportunity that comes your way involving it, as you never know where they will lead! And most importantly, don't be afraid of hard work, athletics has completely taken over my life, from training, to media requests to travel but I feel so lucky that I get to do it as a job, and I know it has a limited shelf life, so I just do as much as I can now - I can rest when my career is over!

10. How big an impact does the media have on disability sport?

I think the media have a fairly big impact on disability sport, more so for letting people know what is out there and available for them to try than anything. Growing up, I didn't know a single other disabled person, I had never heard of the Paralympic Games and I had no idols 'like me' to look up to. I think the Paralympics have come a long way since then, and Paralympians are bigger household names now than ever, but it can still be improved. We need year round coverage and support, not just coverage of the Games every 4 years. We train day in, day out, like our able bodied counterparts, and the sooner every part of the sporting world catches up with that, from media coverage to sponsorship to just crowds coming to watch our events, the better! But most of those things will grow with the amount of media support that we get, so it really does impact a lot on disability sport.