Shepreth sprinter Jonnie Peacock blasts to defence of T44 Paralympic title in Rio

Defending champion Jonnie Peacock feels winning T44 100m gold at the Rio Paralympics on Friday ranks higher in his sporting achievements than his London 2012 heroics.

The Shepreth sprinter clocked 10.90 seconds to take gold four years ago but this time in Brazil, he obliterated the field to post 10.81secs and win by a wide margin.

Peacock himself admits to not feeling like he was the favourite coming into the finale but the amputee wowed the crowds at the Olympic Stadium with a world-class performance.

Peacock said: “There’s two different levels.

“Nothing is ever going to beat London for the achievement but as a sporting achievement this was so much greater.

“The talent that was in this class was unbelievable.

“A time of 11.24 secs made this final and 11.16 secs won the final in Beijing so that just shows you that Paralympic sport is progressing so much at the moment.

“It’s getting bigger and better and in four years time it’s going to be even bigger and it will probably take a run much faster than that to win it.

“I had no pressure here. Jarryd [Wallace] has been running really well all season and if anything the pressure was on him.

“I probably wasn’t the favourite. If people had looked at me a year or even six months ago they probably would have thought ‘no I wouldn’t back him’.

“That’s just where the experience came through really.”

Following his supersonic run, the 23-year-old received congratulations from one of sport’s most notable names.

Peacock travelled to Belgium with the England national football team for the 2000 European Championships and met David Beckham.

Alongside a picture of the former England captain meeting Peacock and his mum Linda, Beckham wrote on Instagram: “I was lucky enough to meet this brave little boy called Jonnie and his mum a few years ago and now he is picking up his gold medal in Rio... Congratulations and thank you for being so inspiring...”