Wheelchair racing star Hannah Cockroft smashed her own Paralympic record as she cruised to gold in the T34 800m in Tokyo.

Cockroft flew out of the blocks at a rain-soaked Olympic Stadium and finished more than 10 seconds ahead of British silver medallist Kare Adenegan.

The 29-year-old’s time of 1:48.99 was just 0.12secs outside the world record she set at the World Para Athletics Grand Prix in Switzerland in May, with GB team-mate Kare Adenegan crossing the line in a personal best 1:59.85.

American Alexa Halko prevented ParalympicsGB dominating the podium as she took bronze in 2:02.22, just under seven seconds ahead of fourth-placed Briton Fabienne Andre.

Yorkshire-born Cockroft, who also retained her 100m title on Sunday ahead of Adenegan, now has a total of seven Paralympic golds following her debut at London 2012.

She heads home four short of matching Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson as Britain’s most successful athletics Paralympian.

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