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Following success at the Lloyds National Track Championships last weekend, Kadeena Cox is ‘excited’ for the year ahead which will see her compete at the Commonwealth Games and World Championships
On Friday, Kadeena took to the track for the C4-5 Time Trial. Her final time was 1:15.381 seconds, earning her another National title and gold medal to add to her collection.
After skipping previous National Championships, Kadeena expressed her joy at being back at her local velodrome.
She said: “Do you know, it was actually really nice. I’ve probably not rode a National Championships in like five years or something, so it is quite nice to be able to pull on the national jersey and come away with the win.”
The 34-year-old from Leeds made history in Rio 2016 as the first British woman in 32 years to win medals in multiple events at the same Games. Following her podium finish, she chose to solely focus on cycling which was rewarded with goal medals in both Tokyo and Paris.
Last week’s National Track Championships took place at the National Cycling Centre in Manchester, on the very same track Kadeena trains.
“I train here all the time and it’s not often I get to race here,” she said. “It was really nice to have people cheering my name as I went around.”
Despite finishing one second faster than her competitors, she expressed frustration with her time but acknowledged the ‘up and down few weeks’ she had leading up to the competition.
C1-3 vs. C4-5?
Kadeena’s route to para sports began when she suffered a stroke at just 23 years old. Four months after the incident, she received a multiple sclerosis (MS) diagnosis. Before her injury, her life revolved around sport. Whether this was breaking records in the 60, 100, or 200m, or even trying to earn a place at the British skeleton team.
Therefore, a move into para sports always seemed inevitable. Determined to make the 2026 Rio Games, she pursued her sprinting career, this time classified as a T37 athlete and a C2 track cyclist.
Currently, Kadeena races as a C5 cyclist. When asked to briefly explain the differences between classifications, she said:
“The 1-3s are slightly more impaired than the 4s and 5s, and we all have various different impairments. The 2s, you can have neurological conditions and you get a lot of above knee amputees.
“Whereas, in my class, you get a lot of bologna amputees, or people like me who have got neurological conditions. The 5s tend to be more like arm affected and minimally affected but yeah I feel like it’s quite complicated.”
Kadeena continues to push herself against able-bodied athletes and tried her hand against them in the 200m sprint. Finishing in 12.204 seconds, she topped several able-bodied competitors but was unable to advance to the knockouts.
Looking ahead
Having missing the last two Commonwealth Games through injury, Kadeena is eager to impress a home crowd and add another medal to her collection.
“I’m really excited ahead of the summer,” she said. “It’s the first time that I’ve got an event at the Commonwealth Games in cycling, so it will be really exciting to get out and do that.”
After dominating over the course of 500m, the opportunity to try out a new event in the kilo is something Kadeena is relishing, especially with the opportunity of world champion looming.
“The kilo is not an event that I’m world champion in, so it’s exciting to be able to push myself and see if I can break that world record and come away with the win.
“Then we’ve got World Champs later on in the year and I’m just hoping to press on now and try and really make this event my own like I did the 500.”