Personal information | |
---|---|
Born | 1852 Vienna, Austria |
Died | May 5, 1925 | (aged 72–73)
Sport | |
Sport | Swimming |
Walpurga von Isacescu (1852 – May 5, 1925), also seen as Walburga von Isacescu, was an Austrian swimmer, the first woman athlete to attempt a swim across the English Channel. [1]
Walpurga von Isacescu attempted to swim across the English Channel on 5 September 1900, a generation before the first woman succeeded at the challenge (when Gertrude Ederle did it, in 1926). She is considered the first woman swimmer to try. [2] Unfavorable weather and tides [3] contributed to her failure after ten hours, and twenty miles. [4] [5] [6] She announced plans for another attempt in 1903. [7]
As a member of the First Vienna Amateur Swimming Club, [8] she gave swimming demonstrations and participated in races, as when she raced Australian swimmer Annette Kellerman in the Danube River. [4] She swam the Danube River Race in 1902, from Melk to Vienna, in twelve hours, a record that stood until 1916. [9] "She tows her clothes behind her in a water-tight india rubber case," one newspaper explained of her weekly swim routine. [10]
Baroness Walpurga was the young widow of a Romanian nobleman when she took up distance swimming. [10] She did not inherit an independent living, but worked as an office clerk at an Austrian railway to support herself. [11]
Personal information | |
---|---|
Born | 1852 Vienna, Austria |
Died | May 5, 1925 | (aged 72–73)
Sport | |
Sport | Swimming |
Walpurga von Isacescu (1852 – May 5, 1925), also seen as Walburga von Isacescu, was an Austrian swimmer, the first woman athlete to attempt a swim across the English Channel. [1]
Walpurga von Isacescu attempted to swim across the English Channel on 5 September 1900, a generation before the first woman succeeded at the challenge (when Gertrude Ederle did it, in 1926). She is considered the first woman swimmer to try. [2] Unfavorable weather and tides [3] contributed to her failure after ten hours, and twenty miles. [4] [5] [6] She announced plans for another attempt in 1903. [7]
As a member of the First Vienna Amateur Swimming Club, [8] she gave swimming demonstrations and participated in races, as when she raced Australian swimmer Annette Kellerman in the Danube River. [4] She swam the Danube River Race in 1902, from Melk to Vienna, in twelve hours, a record that stood until 1916. [9] "She tows her clothes behind her in a water-tight india rubber case," one newspaper explained of her weekly swim routine. [10]
Baroness Walpurga was the young widow of a Romanian nobleman when she took up distance swimming. [10] She did not inherit an independent living, but worked as an office clerk at an Austrian railway to support herself. [11]