Leanne Taylor (born July 27, 1992) is a Canadian paratriathlete.

Early life

Taylor was born in England and is from

Oak Bluff, Manitoba Oak Bluff is an incorporated community located in the Rural Municipality of Macdonald, Manitoba, Canada. It is situated seven kilometres southwest of the City of Winnipeg, between Manitoba Highway (PTH) 3's intersections with PTH 2 and PTH ...

. She moved to

Wasaga Beach Wasaga Beach (or simply Wasaga) is a town in Simcoe County, Ontario, Canada. Situated along the longest freshwater beach in the world, it is a popular summer tourist destination. It is located along the southern end of Georgian Bay, approximatel ...

, Ontario when she was 10-years old and graduated from Jean Vanier Catholic High School in

Collingwood, Ontario Collingwood is a town in Simcoe County, Ontario, Canada. It is situated on Nottawasaga Bay at the southern point of Georgian Bay. Collingwood is well known as a tourist destination, for its skiing in the winter, and limestone caves along the Nia ...

now called Our Lady of the Bay Catholic High School.

Career

In 2019, Taylor competed in her first paratriathlon, the Paratriathlon American Championships in Florida. She failed to qualify for the

Tokyo Olympics Tokyo Olympics may refer to: * 1940 Summer Olympics, Games of the XII Olympiad, cancelled due to World War II * 1964 Summer Olympics, Games of the XVIII Olympiad * 2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an ...

in 2021. In 2024, Taylor won the Americas Paratriathlon Championships Miami in the Women's PTWC classification. Taylor won her first career gold medal on the World Triathlon Para Series circuit at the Swansea event in 2024 with a time of 1:12:21. She placed second at the next World Triathlon Para Series event that year in Montreal. Taylor competed in paratriathlon at the

2024 Summer Paralympics The 2024 Summer Paralympics (), also known as the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games (), and branded as Paris 2024, were the 17th Summer Paralympic Games, an international Multi-sport event, multi-sport parasports event governed by the International P ...

and won a bronze medal in the PTWC event. She was the first Canadian woman to win a Paralympic medal in paratriathlon. Following the 2024 Paralympics, Taylor began training for the 2028 Paralympics with coach Lisa Mensink. She placed third in the women’s division of the Philadelphia Marathon in November 2024.

Personal life

Taylor was paralyzed from the waist down in a

mountain biking Mountain biking (MTB) is a sport of riding bicycles off-road, often over rough terrain, usually using specially designed mountain bikes. Mountain bikes share similarities with other bikes but incorporate features designed to enhance durability ...

accident in Bison Butte Trail in southwest Winnipeg in 2018, when she broke her back at the 11th

thoracic vertebrae In vertebrates, thoracic vertebrae compose the middle segment of the vertebral column, between the cervical vertebrae and the lumbar vertebrae. In humans, there are twelve thoracic vertebra (anatomy), vertebrae of intermediate size between the ce ...

. She lives in Winnipeg with her husband, Scott Dyck, and is a compliance officer for a pharmaceutical company.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Leanne 1992 births Living people Canadian female triathletes Paralympic triathletes for Canada Paralympic bronze medalists for Canada Triathletes at the 2024 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2024 Summer Paralympics English emigrants to Canada Sportspeople from Manitoba 21st-century Canadian sportswomen