World Para-Athletics Championships: Sophie Hahn improves own T38 200m world record
- Published
Sophie Hahn has improved on two of her own world records in as many days
Britain's Sophie Hahn improved on her own world record as she won the T38 200m gold at the World Para-Athletics Championships in Dubai.
Hahn, who broke her own world record to win her fourth straight T38 100m title on Tuesday, clocked 25.92 seconds.
It lowered the 22-year-old's previous record by one hundredth of a second.
Hungary's Luca Ekler (26.61secs) won silver and Australian Rhiannon Clarke bronze, while Briton Kadeena Cox (28.08secs) was sixth.
Hahn, Paralympic champion over the shorter distance, has now successfully defended both titles she won at London 2017 and it brings her total World Championship title tally to seven.
"It's my first 200m race of the year and I've no idea where that came from," she told 成人快手 Sport.
"I'm in shock to be honest. To come home with a world record, I couldn't ask for much more than that."
Elsewhere in Wednesday's evening session, Paul Blake, who won T36 800m gold on the first day of the championships in Dubai, eased into Thursday's 400m final, finishing second in his heat.
Meanwhile Germany's two-time Paralympic champion long jumper Markus Rehm continued his domination of the men's long jump T64 - his seventh World Championships victory and the fifth in the event. Since Christchurch 2011 no one else has won the long jump in his class.
'It's affecting what I love' - Cox on eating disorder relapse
On Monday, Cox told 成人快手 Sport that being at the championships in Dubai had triggered a relapse of her eating disorder.
She revealed that a "few bad habits had snuck back in" as she struggled having "so many eyes" on her in the team environment.
On Wednesday, she told 成人快手 Sport she had experienced a "few emotional days" since but that she was receiving "amazing" support from her team both in Dubai and at home in the UK.
"I'm doing OK," said the 28-year-old, who first spoke of her eating disorder in April. "It's been a few emotional days, but I'll be fine.
"The team have been amazing. I've had the doctor checking on me, maybe too many times. She's been really good. Everyone has been checking in on me and I've been in contact with my psych doctor back home, so I've had a lot of support.
"My team-mates have been amazing for me, so I have had the support I have needed."
Cox, who has multiple sclerosis, said her relapse had come as a "surprise" to herself and her team.
"They were aware of how bad things were before it came out, but things had improved quite a bit, so it just all got a bit overwhelming for me and things spiralled out of control before I had chance to realise and even say anything to anyone" she said.
"It's unfortunate really, but it's part and parcel of having disordered eating."
Asked if a team environment at a championships was the best environment for her to be in, she said: "I guess it has crossed my mind but the one thing that is always there is the fact that I love it, so I'm never going to step away from it.
"I want to be back on top, I want my title back. I do it all because I love the sport so it's just something I am going to have to deal with, just another hurdle to get over and hopefully I will get there.
"I think I'm angry at the fact it is now hampering [her performance], as opposed to when I thought it was helping.
"I'm going to work harder to get over it because it is affecting what I love, so progress will happen I hope."
Clegg aiming for Tokyo success after Dubai disqualification
Earlier on Wednesday, British two-time Paralympic champion Libby Clegg and her guide Tom Somers were disqualified from their T11 200m semi-final.
The disqualification came under rule 7.10, which states guides are not allowed to "push, pull or otherwise propel athletes in order to gain an advantage".
"I thought we had come off the bend and on to the straight when we were actually still on the bend," Clegg told 成人快手 Sport.
"I wasn't registering what Tom was saying to me so I came out of the lane. I ended up separating from him, our bodies were too far apart, and then we tried to come back together, we totally lost momentum coming off the bend."
Clegg, who won T11 100m and 200m gold at the Rio 2016 Paralympics, was competing in Dubai exactly seven months after giving birth to her son, Edward, via emergency Caesarean.
It marked the 29-year-old's first major championships since Rio, owing to a mix of mental health issues, guide injuries and pregnancy, but she told 成人快手 Sport returning to the track has fully whet her appetite for next year's Paralympics in Tokyo.
"It's great to come out here and see where my competitors are at, and a base for where I am at," she said.
"I've definitely learned a lot. I know that I am still hungry to come back and get on the top of the podium again, which is great, but also it's been a really good learning curve.
"It's been a good opportunity for me to get back in the game. I really miss Edward, but coming out here has been worth that horribleness of missing him."
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