WHEELCHAIR RACING: COVENTRY University student Hannah Cockroft bagged top prize at the Sunday Times Sportswomen of the Year awards.
The 25-year-old, who won three gold medals at the London IPC World Athletics Championships in July, scooped the Disability Sportswomen of the Year award at a glittering ceremony at the Hilton London Bankside hotel.
The prestigious awards, now in their 30th year, celebrate the outstanding contribution to sport made by elite performers, coaches, administrators, community volunteers and inspirational female figures.
Broadcast live on Sky Sports, the awards were attended by sporting stars including Paralympic swimmer Ellie Simmonds, Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, Nasser Hussain, and TV broadcaster Chris Kamara among others.
The Halifax Hurricane athlete was successful in the T34 100m, 400m and 800m – the same events she won at Paralympic level in Rio the previous summer.
Cockroft, who studies media and journalism at Coventry University, also set records in the 100m (17.18sec) and 400m (58.29sec).
She remains unbeaten at Paralympic, world and European level for six years.
In total she has 10 world titles and five Paralympic golds.
Her disability is a result of two cardiac arrests she suffered at birth, which damaged two parts of her brain.
As a result, she has difficulty with balance and mobility, problems with her fine motor skills, weak hips and deformed feet and legs.