Winnie Leuszler
Toronto Daily Star, 18 July 1951
Winnie Leuszler (1926-2004) made her attempt to swim the English Channel on August 16 and was successful - she became the first Canadian to swim the channel. Her time was 13 hours, 25 minutes, which beat the women's record of 13:42. (The current record holder is Trent Grimsey of Australia, who crossed the channel in 6 hours and 55 minutes. The current female record holder is Yvetta Hlaváčová, who made it across in 7:25.)
Ms. Leuszler had a number of achievements and honours in her life. She was honoured as Canada's All Round Athlete of the year in 1946, when she won the five-mile World Swimming Championship while three months pregnant. In addition to her achievements in distance swimming, she became Canada's first female baseball umpire in 1957. She received the Order of Ontario in 1999.
Created April 26, 2025.