Hailey Danz took an early lead and raced away to a first Paralympic gold medal. | Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

In Rio eight years ago, Hailey Danz swam, rode and ran to a silver medal at her first Paralympic Games.

In Tokyo, she entered the women’s PTS2 para-triathlon out, proud and with the gold in reach. She ended up one kilometer short of the title as her USA teammate Allysa Seely passed her on the run phase towards a second straight gold. Danz took silver again.

However, on a warm late summer day in Paris Monday, Danz fulfilled her destiny. The 33-year-old from Wisconsin grabbed the race by the throat to win the women’s PTS2 classification in 1:14:31.

Italy’s Veronica Plebani, third in Tokyo, finished more than a minute behind to claim the silver medal this time. Seely’s strength in the run phase lifted her to bronze.

Danz’s strong opening swim set the tone for a runaway triumph. She was second out of the water behind teammate Melissa Stockwell, with Plebani and Seely just behind.

A strong swim was followed by a crushing effort by Danz on the bike that provided a winning margin. | Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

The bike phase is Danz’s strongest discipline and she tore through 20 kilometers in a blistering 36:06. The game plan she had set then held firm through a run phase in which she was able to extend her lead.

That run phase was pure joy. On her final lap of the 5-kilometer run, she lapped Stockwell, who was cheering loudly as Danz raced past.

The grimace that had been on her face near the end in Tokyo was replaced in Paris by a wide smile, as she grabbed a U.S. flag from a family member on the home stretch.

After two consecutive Paralympic silvers, Danz finally reached the top step on the podium. | Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile via Getty Images

Danz raised the finishing tape aloft as she took the victory. It was a symbol of her personal ascent to the top as much as her success as an athlete on the day.

She lost a leg to bone cancer at age 14 and at one point figured she was out of competitive sports.

While in college at Northwestern University, she became an intern with the Dare2tri program. A part of that internship involved her training and competing in her first para-triathlon. She took a liking to the sport and became an elite competitor, rising to become an ITU world champion in 2013.

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She had the Paralympics in her sights, while at the same time growing into herself as a person.

“I started to realize I was gay in college, around the same time I began competing in triathlon,” Danz wrote in an essay for Team USA in 2022. “In retrospect, I can see that I probably threw myself into the sport so intensely as a way of avoiding my feelings.”

On a sunny day in Paris in 2024, all the parts of her past came together, concluding with Danz at the top of the podium.

Her gold medal was the fifth won by Team LGBTQ athletes so far at these Paralympic Games. On Sunday, there were three victories in rowing achieved by Moran Samuel (Israel), Lauren Rowles (Great Britain) and Nikki Ayers (Australia), before France’s Marie Patouillet claimed the women’s C5 category of the 3,000m individual pursuit in track cycling.