Rachel Leck hopes Wednesday’s Paralympic opening ceremony in Paris was the last one she had to watch on television.
The 28-year-old from Jersey is aiming for Los Angeles in 2028 after a remarkable rise up the discus rankings for athletes with cerebral palsy.
A former Para-powerlifter, Leck switched to Para-athletics four years ago, but in the last year she has increased her personal best by 10 metres.
It has been enough to earn her a call up to the England squad to throw in the F38 category at this summer’s Manchester International meeting.
“I’ve come a long way in a very short space of time,” Leck told BBC Radio Jersey.
“It was a bit surreal with my first England vest, but I’m really excited to be part of the team.”
Excitement has unleashed a burning ambition after Leck won gold in her category, beating some of the best F38 throwers from around the United Kingdom and beyond.
“I’m definitely aiming towards the Los Angeles 2028 Paralympic Games, that’s definitely on my list to go to, and then hopefully before then the Commonwealth Games in 2026 and then maybe a few Island Games in between.”
‘She’s a hard worker. She doesn’t miss training sessions’
Leck’s rise has been even more remarkable given she only picked up a discus for the first time two years ago as she began to recover from serious injury.
“Four years ago, we transitioned from the Para-powerlifting into the shot put,” she explains.
“But in my first year I fractured my ankle, so that put me out for a couple of years, and then I picked up a discus two years later and got a PB and thought ‘we should try this again’, and then it just kind of went from there really.”
Leck’s rise, under the guidance of Jersey Spartans Athletic Club, has come as she juggles a full-time job with training.
Her coach Cat Hallden is confident Leck can continue to improve her personal best, which currently stands at 29.01m.
“She’s moved on 10 metres in her discus in a very short space of time,” Hallden explains.
“It is quite hard, but Rachel also has her weightlifting background, having already been doing a lot of gym work, so she’s strong.
“Now it’s just technically trying to adapt so it suits her and her cerebral palsy.
“Basically what we really want to do is to get her to 30m-plus. Then if she can get another five metres, the best in the world is throwing 38m in her category, so it is do-able. We just have some more work to do before we reach that.
“She’s a hard worker. She doesn’t miss training sessions, she jots down everything in her diary, little cues, little things all the time, so she’s really on the ball with a lot of the things around it.
“Also, she does have a full-time job, so she’s doing really well with that.”
‘Inspire the next generation’
An island with a population of just 100,000, Jersey has never sent anyone to the Paralympic Games in athletics and the last time Jersey had any representation at an Olympic Games was in Sydney 24 years ago.
But Leck has drawn inspiration from just across the water. Guernsey 400m hurdler Alastair Chalmers ran at the Paris Olympics earlier this month to show Leck there is a path from the Channel Islands to the biggest stage of all.
“I think it was really inspirational to see Alastair Chalmers at the Olympics,” she said. “Although we’re GB, we’re still Channel Islands at heart really, so I think it’s really, really special.
“I’m really hoping to inspire the next generation of Para-athletes to not be ashamed or worried about your disability and kind of give it a go and see what you can do.”
It is not only Leck who is confident that ambition can become a reality.
“I believe in my athlete and she believes in herself and she has kept throwing so well and so close to her personal best,” adds her coach, Hallden.
“That’s what you’re looking for, to keep the consistency, then the bigger throws will be there.
“If we just quietly work away the bigger throws will come.”
