Hurricane Hannah breezes into final

"Hurricane Hannah" Cockroft has closed in on her second Paralympic gold with another dominant ride.

The 20-year-old wheelchair racer broke the Paralympic record to win her T34 200m heat in 33.20 seconds, more than two seconds clear of the field.

The Halifax athlete, who sparked the gold rush for Great Britain's athletes by winning the 100m title on Friday night, is so far ahead of the competition that another triumph in the final on Thursday night looks all but assured.

"I feel like I'm flying, I'm pretty happy with that race," she said. "It was the slower of the two heats and that made me overly confident, which I didn't like, but I got the Paralympic record so I can't complain with that.

"I've just got to keep my feet on the floor until tonight and hopefully I can do it again."

Ireland's Jason Smyth moved a step closer to completing the sprint double by blowing away the opposition to cruise into the T13 200m final.

The 25-year-old, who trains alongside Tyson Gay in Florida, came within 0.05secs of his own world record by winning his heat in 21.48s.

The defending champion, who is visually impaired because of Stargardt disease, is known as the fastest Paralympian on the planet, having already retained his 100m crown.

He said: "I was actually a little disappointed (not to break the world record). To be honest, I was hoping to sneak over it this time. But my priority is to get to the final.

"I would have liked to have run a few hundredths faster, I think I can."