Kadeena Cox

Kadeena Cox

Personal information
Nationality	United Kingdom
Born	(1991-03-10) 10 March 1991
Sport
Country	Great Britain
Sport	Athletics, cycling
Event(s)	T37 sprint, C4 para-cycling
Club	Sale Harriers
Coached by	Paula Dunn (national) Brian Scobie (personal)
Achievements and titles
Highest world ranking	1st - 100m (T37)
Personal best(s)	100m sprint: 13.59s 200m sprint: 29.53s
Medal record Representing Great Britain Women's Paralympic athletics World Championships 2015 Doha 100m - T37 Women's para-cycling Track World Championships 2016 Montichiari 500m time trial - C4

Kadeena Cox (born 10 March 1991) is a parasport athlete from England competing in T37 sprint and para-cycling events. She was part of the 2015 IPC Athletics World Championships and the 2016 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships, in which she won world titles in the T37 100m and C4 500m time trial respectively.

Personal history

Cox was born in Leeds, England in 1991. Her first school was Bracken Edge Primary in Chapeltown, Leeds. She attended Wetherby High School before matriculating to Manchester Metropolitan University where she studied physiotherapy.

Athletics history

As an able bodied athlete

Cox began sprinting competitively at the age of 15 after her hockey coach suggested she try out the sport. Over the next three years she competed at regional under-17 meets gaining several podium finishes in the 100m events. In 2007 she added the 60m and 200m to her repertoire, taking bronze in the U17 events at both the Manchester Open and the England Athletics Open Championships in the 60m that year. By 2009 Cox was competing throughout the athletics season, recording a personal bests of 12.60s in the 100m and 25.58s in the 200m, both at the Yorkshire & Humberside County Championships. In 2012 Cox was entering national events and recorded a new personal best in the 200m in the BUCS Championships held at the Olympic Park, a result which saw her take bronze. The following year she broke the 12 second barrier in the 100m for the first time, recording a time of 11.97 at the Northern Athletics Championships.

On the 18 May 2014, Cox entered the Loughborough International, two days later she was rushed to hospital after showing odd symptoms and was diagnosed as having suffered a stroke. After two months of physiotherapy she recovered back to normal health and began training again. Then on 15 September 2014 she experienced burning sensations in her right arm, which over the following few days worsened to numbness in her arm and right leg and she was again taken to hospital with suspicions of a stroke. After extensive tests she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis.

As a parasport sprinter

Intent on making the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio, Cox was classified as both a T37 track and field athlete, to continuing her sprinting career, and a C2 track cyclist. In September 2015 Cox entered the British National Track Championships where she took the gold medal in the C1-5 Mixed Gender Sprint Time Trial.

A month later Cox was selected for the Great Britain athletics team, where she entered the T37 100m and 200m sprints. In the heats leading up to the final of the 100m sprint, Cox posted a time of 13.59s to beat the world record set by France's Mandy Francois-Elie. Later that day she ran in the 100m T37 final, taking the gold medal in a time of 13:60, beating team mate Georgina Hermitage into second place. Her final event of the championship, the T37 200m sprint, ended in controversy after she missed registration by a minute and was disqualified from the race.

As a para-cyclist

In March 2016, Cox entered the UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships. Despite being reclassified as a C4 cyclist the day before the event, she still went on to win gold in the 500m time trial with a world record of 37.456s.