super sophie is golden girl

Sprint sensation Sophie Hahn set the world alight on Saturday when she stormed to the gold medal in the women's T38 200 metres at the World Para Athletics Championships in London.
Sophie Hahn. EMN-170524-145535002Sophie Hahn. EMN-170524-145535002
Sophie Hahn. EMN-170524-145535002

Leading from the start, Sophie glided round the bend and swept to victory, smashing the world record in the process.

The 20-year-old former Brooksby Melton College student set a new best of 26.11 seconds as she finished ahead of Germany’s Lindy Ave, with GB team-mate Kadeena Cox picking up the bronze medal.

Commenting on Twitter about the result, Sophie said: “What a night! Thank you to everyone for your support.

“So proud to win the 200m title. Thanks to TeamHahn for getting me there.”

She added: “It feels phenomenal. I never imagined I’d get the world record.”

For Sophie it was a case of third time lucky in this event as she had twice won the silver medal in the 200m at the 2013 world championships in Lyon and the 2015 championships in Doha.

It has already been a remarkable year for Sophie who, at the beginning of 2017, received an MBE for services to athletics after winning T38 100m gold in the Rio Paralympic Games in September last year, as well as relay silver in the 4x100m on her Paralympic debut.

In May she smashed the world T38 100m record, clocking 10.49 seconds to win the short sprint at the Loughborough International meet, shaving 0.11 seconds off her own world record, set in the 2015 IPC World Athletics Championships final in Doha.

And she will be hoping for more success this weekend.

Sophie will unquestionably be a hot favourite to make it a golden double when she goes in her strongest event, the 100m, on Saturday.

As the defending champion - having won the gold in the 100m at the 2015 world championships in Doha and also in 2013 at Lyon - and the world record holder, she will be the athlete the others have to beat.

Sophie only took up athletics a few years ago having been inspired by the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

Since then she has taken the athletics world by storm, yet she remains modest about her sporting achievements, saying on her website: “I am very passionate, yet humble, about what I do and I hope to inspire people into challenging themselves in their own lives.”

There will be no shortage of support when she goes for her world sprint double on Saturday in front of an enthusiastic home crowd.

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