Athlete: Speed Skating
Year Inducted: Legacy
Born in: Ottawa, Ontario

A multi-talented athlete in the 1920s and 1930s, Wilfrid Mathieu was a Canadian champion in speed skating, snowshoeing and cycling.

Speed skating was his primary sport as an athlete before he extended his dedication into coaching and serving as an official and event organizer. Skating for the East Ottawa AC Speed Skating Club, he won the senior men’s 880-yard and three-quarter-mile races at the 1927 Canadian championships as a 17-year-old.

At age 72, he showed he hadn’t lost his magical touch on the ice, when he earned the bronze medal at the 1982 world senior citizen speed skating championships during Ottawa’s Winterlude.

His speed skating resume also shows many race victories in the United States as well as during the Spalding Cup, Brewer Cup and Rubenstein Cup competitions. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, his name entered the speed skating record books several times for new club, regional, provincial and national standards.

When he strapped on the snowshoes, Mathieu became a regional, provincial, national and world champion. He even won a 120-mile race between Ottawa and Montreal in 1930.

Racing for the Capital City Cycling Club, Mathieu excelled on the dirt track at Lansdowne Park and captured a Canadian championship race.

Mathieu, who also was recognized with awards in sailing, water polo and track and field, was a pillar in the Francophone sports community, serving as a director and instructor in swimming, cycling and skiing with l’Oeuvre de la Jeunesse d’Ottawa.