Tokyo Paralympics LIVE: Aled Davies retains shot put title after Hannah Cockroft wins seventh career gold

Paralympic champion Kadeena Cox was just weeks away from being “a force to be reckoned with” on the track, according to her mother.

The 30-year-old narrowly missed out on a medal in the T38 400 metres final in Tokyo, finishing fourth - in doing so she was unable to add to the golds she won in the cycling.

Cox, who won gold in both cycling and athletics in Rio five years ago, battled tendinitis in both Achilles ahead of the Games.

“I’m so proud of her because (of) what she achieved today. She knocked six seconds off what she went out with,” said her mother Jasmin Williams, 51, from Leeds.

“For her to achieve that... is something to be proud of.

“I think three more weeks and she would have been a force to be reckoned with. She just needed a little more time on the track.”

Ellie Simmonds has been described as an “amazing ambassador for Paralympic sport” by British Swimming chief executive Jack Buckner as she weighs up her future.

Five-time Paralympic champion Simmonds on Thursday said of Tokyo 2020, where she has fallen short of adding to her medal haul, that “I think this is going to be my last”, adding “I’ll go home and evaluate.”

The 26-year-old Walsall-born athlete has won a total of eight Paralympic medals across four Games, including two golds at Beijing 2008 aged 13.

Buckner told the PA news agency: “She has been a legend of the Paralympic movement and a legend of British swimming.

“What an amazing ambassador she has been not just for British swimming but for Paralympic sport.

“We’re massively sad for her to leave, but also it’s good to re-evaluate - I think she’s looked a bit at the Commonwealths (the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games), and whether she might be tempted by that I don’t know.

“Above all else, it’s just massive thanks to her and everything she has done for British swimming and the Paralympic movement.”

He added: “It’s the longevity of her career, added to the way it was part of that kind of transformation of the Paralympic movement - she’d been at the heart of that.

“Whatever she does next, I think that stuff really means a lot to her and she will probably continue to play a really important role in Paralympic sport.

“I’m sure there will be plenty of things she could do. She is just a lovely person with so many talents and hopefully this is also going to be a platform for her for other things in her life.”

British star Kadeena Cox failed to repeat her exploits from Rio as a quest to once again win titles in two sports ended with a fourth-placed finish in the T38 400 metres final in Tokyo.

Gold went to Germany’s Lindy Ave in a world-record time of one minute, with Russian Margarita Goncharova second and Colombian Darian Faisury Jimenez Sanchez claiming bronze.

Leeds-born Cox, who last week defended her C4-5 cycling time trial crown, was 1.16 seconds off the pace, crossing the line in a season’s best 1:01.16.

The time was her fastest since glory in the event in Brazil five years ago and followed a difficult build up in which she battled tendinitis in both Achilles, in addition to ongoing disordered eating.

“I’ve had a really turbulent time,” she said. “Fourth place is hard but it was still a great race and I’m proud of myself.

“As an athlete you always want a medal. I came into this not knowing how I would perform but wanting to turn up and be the Kadeena I know and try to retain my title.

“That time for me is amazing with the challenges I’ve had to get here.

“As you can see, I’m very emotional now. I spent every track session just crying, attempting to run and then crying because I couldn’t and that lasted a few weeks before Paula (Dunn) my head coach stepped in and said, ‘if we get her there in one piece she’s going to be mentally broken’.

“When you’ve got two Achilles that are sore, you can run through one but running through two is near impossible.

“Me and the therapy team worked so hard to get me to this point and I only started running on the track a week before selection.

“To turn it around six weeks later and come fourth in a massive season’s best, I’m happy - it’s just hard.”

The 30-year-old, who has multiple sclerosis, will leave Japan with two golds, having also won the mixed C1-5 sprint on the bike, alongside Jaco Van Gass and Jody Cundy.

Ave’s winning time shaved 0.71secs off the Paralympic record Cox set at Rio 2016, while lowering the previous global best of Hungary’s Luca Ekler by 0.27secs.

Amid torrential rain at the Olympic Stadium, fellow GB athlete Ali Smith came eighth in a time of 1:03.05.

World KL2 200m canoe champion Charlotte Henshaw completed a full set of Paralympic medals after winning the battle of the Brits by powering to glory ahead of defending title holder Emma Wiggs in Tokyo.

The 34-year-old former swimmer added KL2 kayak gold to SB6 breaststroke silver and bronze – claimed in London and Rio respectively – on another magnificent morning for Great Britain at Sea Forest Waterway.

Ex-sprinter Laura Sugar also claimed gold on Saturday, winning the women’s KL3 competition, while there was VL3 bronze for Stuart Wood in the men’s events.

Mansfield-born Henshaw has taken the sport by storm since switching from the pool in early 2017 and continued her remarkable progress by completing the 200m straight line in a personal best time of 50.760 seconds.

Teammate Wiggs was just 0.649 secs off the pace as her Rio crown passed into the hands of her compatriot.

Hannah Cockroft and Zak Skinner were both “absolutely gutted”, though for very different reasons.

Wheelchair racer Cockroft had just won her seventh Paralympic title by almost 11 seconds, missing her own world record by a fraction. Skinner was short of a long jump bronze by just two centimetres.

There are many gradients of “gutted” at these Games and it wasn’t hard to know who to feel more sorry for.

With Great Britain delivering medal after medal with the regularity and efficiency of a Shinkansen bullet train, it is easy to forget that podiums aren’t a penalty kick at the Paralympics.

After 13 years, four Paralympics and two near-misses, Charlotte Henshaw finally climbed to the top step of the podium.

In what was billed the battle of the Brits, the 34-year-old blasted clear of teammate Emma Wiggs to win the 200m kayak KL2 final for her first Paralympic gold – and in her second sport.

Henshaw won silver in London and bronze in Rio albeit in the pool and not on the water, as she swam breaststroke at her first three Games.

The immediate future of British wheelchair tennis looks perilous despite the Tokyo Paralympics ending with two doubles medals.

Gordon Reid beat Alfie Hewett in a singles bronze medal match that was nothing short of an ordeal for all involved, a most pyrrhic Paralympic victory.

The pair brought collective trauma to the table, shattered by falling short once again in an epic doubles final having both lost their singles semi-finals.

Aled Sion Davies, who won shot put gold at Rio 2016 after claiming discus gold at London 2012, has made it a hat-trick by winning the F63 shot put here in Tokyo!

The Briton throws 15.33m to finish easily ahead of Iran’s Sajad Mohammadian, who recorded 14.88m!

British star Kadeena Cox failed to repeat her exploits from Rio as a quest to once again win titles in two sports ended with a fourth-placed finish in the T38 400 metres final in Tokyo.

Gold went to Germany’s Lindy Ave in a world-record time of one minute, with Russian Margarita Goncharova second and Colombian Darian Faisury Jimenez Sanchez claiming bronze.

Leeds-born Cox, who last week defended her C4-5 cycling time trial crown, was 1.16 seconds off the pace, crossing the line in a season’s best 1:01.16.

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