Abi Strate leads Canadian Olympic ski jumping hopes at Milano-Cortina Winter Games
Calgary native picked up 1st career World Cup win in January
Canada’s newly named ski jumping team has high hopes heading into the Milano-Cortina Winter Games — and that has a lot to do with Abi Strate.
The 24-year-old was part of the Canadian team that won a surprise bronze medal in the mixed team event at Beijing 2022. Since then, Strate has been making big strides, even if she feels that time has flown by.
The Olympic team, which was announced Tuesday, also includes Calgarians Mackenzie Boyd-Clowes, Natalie Eiliers and Nicole Maurer. All four athletes are from Calgary.
Like Strate, Boyd-Clowes featured on Canada's medal-winning team in Beijing.
Talking to CBC Sports host Perdita Felicien, Strate described what she felt when she learned she made the 2026 Olympic team.
“Yeah, pretty, pretty amazing,” Strate said. “Olympics only come around every four years, so it seems like the last ones just happened, and now we're already…three weeks from the opening [ceremony] in Italy.”
After a successful summer jumping season – where Strate made the podium at each of the five events she entered – she continued to find success on the snow this season.
“The winter started off with the podium as well, and I've gotten a few more since then, [including] my first victory,” Strate said. “It's been truly magical [with] perfect timing and I'm hoping the stars align on the right day.”
Strate said her gold-medal win at Obertsdorf, Germany, on Jan. 1 was the culmination of years and years of training and competition, but her biggest goals have yet to be realized.
“It took me days, even weeks to kind of realize what had happened and what's possible from here on. I've been dreaming of that moment my entire life, [ever] since I was a ski jumper,” she said. “[I’ve dreamed about] the Olympics, of course, but that first World Cup win…for a long time it was just a dream as far away and then I got [silver] twice already in the season and I was like, ‘hey, this is pretty close. Like, this could happen.’
“And it did. And it went by so quick, I was just trying to look around and take it all in.”
Speaking of taking it all in, this will be Strate’s second Olympic experience but it will be the first with a full complement of spectators, fans, and crowds – something she is very much looking forward to.
“I think the Beijing Games, with Covid, was kind of [like] we were in our little bubble and I've never felt, I guess, the true atmosphere of an Olympic Games with not only fans, but my family there.
“My whole family hasn't seen me ski jump in 10 years, so that'll be really, really amazing,” she said. “My parents came to the test event in Italy in September. And I told them,‘cheer as loud as you can make as much noise as you can. I want you to make me feel nervous.’
“And at the top of the jump, I didn't even hear them. So I think that's a good sign. Cheering is good, but you don't want to be noticing it.”
While fans will return to the Games, Strate's friend and teammate Alexandra Loutitt will not compete at Milano Cortina 2026. Loutitt was also part of that Olympic bronze-winning team in 2022 but suffered a knee injury during September's Olympic test event in Predazzo, Italy, and will miss the Games.
"I see Ali lots [and] she's doing really well, she's got really good spirits. She's super motivated. Together, we both have huge goals for the sport," Strate said. "There's potentially going to be a super team – a two person team event – added at the next Olympics, and we've [made the podium] in that event before. That would be huge for us , especially for her to come back from an injury.
"She's got a great attitude and we stay in touch. She's super happy for my success [and] I think she wants me to win just as much as I do."
No repeat medal for mixed team
The mixed team that achieved the bronze breakthrough in 2022, however, won't be back for another shot at the podium in Milano-Cortina.
Canada cannot field a mixed team in Italy with Boyd-Clowes the only male jumper to qualify. Strate, Eilers and Maurer will compete in women's events.
The athletes will participate in both normal hill and large hill competitions.
Boyd-Clowes returns for his fifth Olympics after returning to competition last year following a two-and-a-half-year break from ski jumping.
Eilers is back competing after a year-long knee injury, while Maurer consistently placed in the top-30 on the World Cup circuit this season.
