Olympics·Poll

Is Brooke Henderson Canada's top female athlete?

After adding her first victory in a major tournament to her growing list of accomplishments, 18-year-old Brooke Henderson has already taken her place among Canada's best female athletes.

Golfer's major victory puts her in elite company

Canada's Brooke Henderson won her first major championship this month, and is playing great golf before this summer's Olympics. (Jeff Gross/Getty Images)

Brooke Henderson pulled off a rare feat on Sunday at the Women's PGA Championship, becoming just the third Canadian golfer to win a major tournament, and the first Canadian woman to do it in nearly half a century.

The Smiths Falls, Ont., native, who is only 18, became the youngest winner of the event and, in the process, rose to No.2 in the world rankings.

The biggest victory of Henderson's young career follows a breakthrough 2015 season in which she earned her first tournament title as a pro, recorded a pair of top-five finishes in majors and won the Bobbie Rosenfeld Award as The Canadian Press' female athlete of the year.

Brooke Henderson: 'I have big dreams, big goals ahead of me'

8 years ago
Duration 1:38
Canada's top-ranked female golfer Brooke Henderson is excited about the possibilities of winning gold this summer at the Rio Olympics. Watch for a full feature in our BMW Olympians series during the Games.

Should Henderson now be considered Canada's top active female athlete? Take a look at some of the other candidates and vote for your choice in the poll below.

Christine Sinclair

Christine Sinclair nearly led Canada to an upset win over the United States in the semifinals of the 2012 London Olympics. (Stanley Chou/Getty Images)
The greatest soccer player the country has produced, Sinclair has 162 goals in 230 international caps, sitting behind only Abby Wambach on the all-time women's goal-scoring list. The Burnaby, B.C., native led the Canadian women's soccer team to an Olympic bronze medal in 2012, and will captain the squad again at this summer's Rio Games.

Brianne Theisen-Eaton

Brianne Theisen-Eaton celebrates her victory in the women's pentathlon at the 2016 world indoor championships. (Ian Walton/Getty Images)
The track and field star has taken silver in the heptathlon at the last two outdoor world championships, and won gold in the pentathlon at this year's indoor worlds. This summer in Rio, she'll look to improve on her 10th-place heptathlon finish from the 2012 Olympics.

Hayley Wickenheiser​

Hayley Wickenheiser, right, celebrates Canada's gold medal win over the United States at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
Considered by many to be the greatest women's hockey player ever, Wickenheiser also broke barriers by becoming the first woman to play full-time professional hockey in a men's league in a position other than goalie when she joined a team in Finland in 2003. Wickenheiser has represented Canada at five Olympics and has been a key contributor in four straight gold medal performances. She has also won seven world titles and, at age 37, helped Canada to a silver medal this year.

Eugenie Bouchard

Eugenie Bouchard made an historic appearance in the final at Wimbledon in 2014. (Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
In 2014, her second full professional season, Bouchard made the semifinals at the Australian Open and French Open and the final at Wimbledon, becoming the first tennis player representing Canada to reach a Grand Slam title match in singles. Since then, the Montrealer has fallen from her spot in the top five of the world rankings and is now No. 47.

Kaillie Humphries

Kaillie Humphries has won two Olympic gold medals and two world titles in bobsleigh. (Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)
The winner of two consecutive Olympic gold medals in the two-woman bobsleigh event, Humphries, like Wickenheiser, has broken gender barriers in her sport. The Calgary native, who is also a two-time world champion, has piloted both a mixed-gender sled and an all-female squad against all-male competition on the World Cup circuit.

Kia Nurse

Kia Nurse lets out a roar in the 2015 Pan Am Games gold medal showdown against the United States. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press)
The junior guard out of Hamilton, Ont., has started all but three of the 77 games she's played at the University of Connecticut, where she has won two national championships. Nurse rose onto the scene with a standout performance at last summer's Pan Am Games in Toronto. The 20-year-old had 33 points en route to leading Canada to a gold medal upset over the United States and her star Huskies teammates, Breanna Stewart and Moriah Jefferson.

As an encore, Nurse helped Canada secure a birth in the Rio Olympics by winning the 2015 FIBA Americas Women's Championship and was named the tournament's MVP.

Jennifer Abel

Jennifer Abel gives the home crowd some love at the 2015 Pan Am Games. (Harry How/Getty Images)
A member of Diving Canada's "Fab Four," Abel competed at the 2008 Beijing Olympics when she was 16 years old, becoming the youngest Canadian diver to do so. The Montreal native went on to win bronze in the 3-metre synchro with teammate Emilie Heymans at the 2012 Olympics, and Abel also owns five world championship medals.

Who do you think is Canada's top active female athlete? Let us know in the poll and comment section below.