Cockroft has always made clear her preference for the shorter sprints, but the reigning world champion and world record holder took the race on from the gun and the win never looked in doubt as she powered home in 2 min 0.62sec.

Success sees the 24-year-old add to the titles she won in the women’s 100m T34 and women’s 800m T34 earlier in the Games. 

"Coming into the Games, it was always the aim to win three golds," said Cockroft, who has bettered her tally of two golds from London 2012.

"I’ve always said if you don’t think you are going to win, what’s the point in being here?"

American teenager Alexa Halko came through for second in 2:02.08 as Cockroft’s 15-year-old team-mate Kare Adenegan clinched bronze in 2:02.47.

Out in the field, the United States' David Blair extended the world record he set earlier this year with a winning throw of 64.11m in the men’s discus throw F44.

The 40-year-old, who only returned to track and field in 2015 after a 16-year break from sport, finished ahead of Trinidad and Tobago’s Akeem Stewart.

Stewart set an F43 Paralympic record of 61.72m as he added silver to the men’s javelin F44 gold he won last week - his country’s second medal of the Games.

Bronze went to Athens 2004 champion Dan Greaves of Britain after he managed a throw of 59.57m.

Earlier in the day, Brazil’s Silvania Costa de Oliveira took gold in the women’s long jump T11 competition to clinch her first Paralympic title.

The reigning world champion looked to be heading for a silver medal, but in the final round, she managed a terrific leap of 4.98m to surpass the 4.89m mark that Ivory Coast's Fatimata Diasso set in the fourth round.

The 29-year-old follows in the footsteps of her brother Ricardo, who won the equivalent men’s event on the opening day of competition at Rio 2016.

"I think my mother might have got a heart attack," said Costa de Oliveira.

"I’m so happy, I need to get my feet back on the ground because I feel like I’m still in the air after that jump.

"Since August I’ve felt the great the support from the Brazilian people and this victory is like a cake where everyone who contributed with an ingredient can join the celebration party."

Diasso took silver, while Brazilian Lorena Salvatini Spoladore won bronze with a jump of 4.71m.

Another stand-out performer today was Serbia’s Zeljko Dimitrijevic, who improved his own world record twice as he won the men’s club throw F51.

The 45-year-old reigning Paralympic and world champion added a phenomenal 2.87m on to his previous world best with his first throw of the competition.

He then added a further five centimetres in the fourth round to seal the win with 29.96m.

Dimitrijevic’s team-mate Milos Mitic, world bronze medallist last year, threw 26.84m for silver while bronze went to Slovakia’s Marian Kureja with 26.82m.

For a full breakdown of athletics results from day nine, visit our Live Blog here.