In all sports, you get used to something. In the 1990s, it was Manchester United winning the Premier League; in the Noughties, it was Michael Schumacher winning the Formula One Drivers Championship and Lewis Hamilton. Stephen Hendry always won the snooker, Phil Taylor the darts. The same is true of Hannah Cockcroft in Wheelchair racing. However, although it might not seem like it at the time, these sportsmen and women inevitably start to fade, and that is when the new kid comes to town. In the world of wheelchair sprinting, it’s Kare Adenegan. She was just the tender age of 14 when she beat Hannah Cockcroft, something that had never happened before. It was the passing of the baton; although not quite yet, Cockcroft remains top of her game.
However, anyone wishing to be an athlete, whether disabled and needing Walking Aids like those from https://www.abilitysuperstore.com/collections/walking-aids or non-disabled, need to have a nemesis or, more positively, someone to look up to, to aspire to beat. For Hendry, it was Steve Davis; for Phil Taylor, it was John Lowe; eventually, every football team in the English league wanted to beat Man United. For Schumacher and Lewis, it was to emulate Lauda and Senna, and for Hamilton, to beat Schumacher himself.
If Kare Adenegan is the new Hannah Cockcroft remains to be seen. She’s 22 and now coming to the height of her powers and abilities. In the film Cars 3, there is a prophetic line. “When I asked my Dad, what age should I retire? He said, ‘the young ones will tell you…’.