Seven-hundred and fifty, the metres a para-triathlete must swim. Twenty, the kilometres biked. Five, the kilometres ran. But perhaps the most important figure in a para-triathlon race is time. The time an athlete finishes all three will vary on the race course and conditions. But a matter of seconds can separate the first, second and third-place finishers in a race.

For the USA’s Hailey Danisewicz, that was the case at the 2015 Para-Triathlon World Championships. A mishap on the bike portion pushed her 42 seconds back for second place.

Here is a look at some other significant figures in Danisewicz’s life that have led her on the road to Rio 2016, where para-triathlon will debut.

12 – The age when Danisewicz was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer, in her leg.

“I was very active in sports growing up, [but] a bone cancer diagnosis at the age of 12 put an end to that,” she said. “I had my leg amputated two years later, and believed that my days as an athlete were over.”

19 – The age when Danisewicz met Keri Schindler while interviewing for a summer internship at Great Lakes Adapted Sports Association.

“I originally got involved with para-triathlon through Dare2Tri, a para-triathlon club in Chicago [USA]. I met one of the co-founders when I was interviewing for a summer internship, and she [Schindler] persuaded me to sign up for my first triathlon. I had no real background in swimming, biking or running, but picked them all up at once. I did my first race a few months later and have been hooked ever since.”

2 – Danisewicz finished second at the 2015 Grand Finale in Chicago; the competition included in the Para-Triathlon World Championships.

“Being able to race the World Championship in the city that I’ve called home for the last six years was truly amazing. I had a ton of family and friends out on the course supporting me, and I just loved having their energy out there. The race was not the performance I was hoping for – I went into the race not feeling 100 per cent and then suffered a small crash on the bike. However, I was really proud of how I handled myself mentally, and how I brought the best performance I was capable of on that particular day.”

64 – The number of seconds that separated the first and third-place finishers in the women’s PT2 race at the 2015 World Championships in Chicago, USA. It was a US sweep of Allysa Seely (1:25:03), Danisewicz (1:25:45), and Melissa Stockwell…