Thunder and lightning forced a teenage marathon swimmer to abandon her attempt to swim across Lake Ontario on Tuesday.

Kingston native Natalie Lambert, 14, was pulled from the water at about 10:20 p.m. on Tuesday, just seven kilometres away from Toronto. She had been swimming for 15 hours after leaving Niagara-on-the-Lake at about 7:20 a.m.

The storm looked like it would pass the group to the southwest, when suddenly the "winds came up and the lightning was right overhead," said Lambert's swim team leader John Munro, who made the decision to pluck her from the water.

Lambert had been in the boat for ten minutes when she started talking about making another attempt, according to coach Vicki Keith, herself a legendary marathon swimmer.

Tuesday's swim was Lambert's second attempt to cross the 52-kilometre segment of Lake Ontario after her 2007 crossing was cancelled by bad weather.

She successfully completed a crossing from Sackets Harbour in New York to Kingston in 2007.

Lambert conquered Lake Erie earlier in July, going from Crystal Beach in Fort Erie to Sturgeon Point Marina in Derby, New York. She became the fastest and youngest swimmer to do so, but the record was usurped by another swimmer a few days later. She was also the first to cross the lake using the gruelling butterfly stroke.

Lambert has said her swims are inspired by her older sister Jenna, who has cerebral palsy. Jenna Lambert swam across the eastern leg of Lake Ontario in 2006.

With files from The Canadian Press