Rachel Leck hopes Wednesday’s opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games in Paris was the last she sees on television.
The 28-year-old from Jersey is aiming for Los Angeles in 2028 after making a remarkable rise up the discus rankings for athletes with cerebral palsy.
Leck, a former para powerlifter, switched to para athletics four years ago, but has improved her personal best by 10 meters in the past year.
This earned her a call-up to the English team to race in the F38 category in Manchester this summer.
“I’ve come a long way in a short time,” Leck told BBC Radio Jersey.
“It was a bit surreal when I wore my first England shirt, but I’m really happy to be part of the team.”
Excitement led to burning ambition after Leck won gold in her category, beating some of the best F38 throwers from the UK and beyond.
“I’m definitely aiming for the Los Angeles Paralympic Games in 2028. That’s definitely on my list of things to go to. And then hopefully the Commonwealth Games in 2026 and then maybe a few Island Games in between.”
“She’s a hard worker. She doesn’t miss any training sessions”
Leck’s rise is all the more remarkable given that she first picked up a discus just two years ago, when she was still recovering from a serious injury.
“Four years ago we switched from para-powerlifting to shot put,” she explains.
“But in my first year I broke my ankle, which put me out of action for a few years. Two years later I picked up discus throwing and set a personal record. Then I thought, ‘We have to try this again.’ From that moment on it just kind of went by itself.”
Leck’s rise, under the guidance of Jersey Spartans Athletic Club, came while she was balancing a full-time job with training.
Her coach Cat Hallden is confident that Leck can continue to improve her personal best, which now stands at 29.01 metres.
“She covered 10 meters with her discus in a very short time,” Hallden explains.
“It’s quite tough, but Rachel also has a background in weightlifting and has done a lot of gym work, so she’s strong.
“Now it’s a matter of technically adapting it to suit her and her cerebral palsy.
“What we really want to do is get her to 30m-plus. And if she can throw another five metres, the best in the world throws 38m in her category, so that’s achievable. We just have to do a bit more work before we get there.
“She’s a hard worker. She doesn’t miss any training, she writes everything down in her journal, little hints, little things all the time, so she’s really on the ball with a lot of the stuff around it.
“She also has a full-time job, so she really likes that.”
‘Inspire the next generation’
Jersey is an island of just 100,000 people and has never sent an athletics team to the Paralympic Games. The last time Jersey was at the Olympics was 24 years ago in Sydney.
But Leck has drawn inspiration from 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 inspiring to see Alastair Chalmers at the Olympics,” she said. “Even though we’re GB, we’re still Channel Islands at heart, so I think it’s really special.
“I really hope I can inspire the next generation of para-athletes not to be ashamed or worried about their disability, but just give it a try and see what they can do.”
Leck is not the only one convinced that ambitions can become reality.
“I believe in my athlete and she believes in herself. She continues to throw so well and keeps coming close to her personal best,” added her coach, Hallden.
“That’s what you’re looking for, keep the consistency, then you’ll get bigger throws.
“If we just keep going, the bigger litters will come.”
