Leck’s rise is all the more remarkable considering that she first picked up a discus just two years ago, when she was just beginning to recover from a serious injury.

“Four years ago we moved from para-powerlifting to shot put,” she explains.

“But I broke my ankle my freshman year and had to take a couple of years off. Then I started throwing discus two years later and got a personal best. I thought, ‘we should try again’ and just kept going.”

Leck’s rise under the management of the Jersey Spartans Athletic Club came despite balancing a full-time job and training.

Her coach Cat Hallden is confident that Leck can further improve her personal best, which currently stands at 29.01 m.

“She exceeded the 10-meter mark in the discus throw in a very short time,” explains Hallden.

“It’s pretty tough, but Rachel also has experience in weightlifting and has done a lot of gym training, so she’s strong.

“Now it’s just a matter of adapting it technically so that it suits her and her cerebral palsy.

“Basically we want to get her over 30m. If she can then go another five metres, the best in the world in her category throws 38m, so it’s doable. We just need to work a bit more before we get there.

“She’s a hard worker. She doesn’t miss any training sessions, she writes everything down in her diary, little notes, little things all the time, so she’s really on top of a lot of things around the subject.

“Plus, she has a full-time job, so she’s managing it really well.”