Team Canada Soars to First-Ever Olympic Ski Jumping Medal
BEIJING, China- Abigail Strate, Mackenzie Boyd Clowes, Matthew Soukup, and Alexandria Loutitt earn Canada’s first-ever Olympic Ski Jumping medal in the Mixed team Ski Jumping event.
The Mixed Team Ski Jumping Event held on the HS 106 at the Zhangjiakou National Ski Jumping Centre would be the first time that two men and two women would compete as a team at the Olympics. The event combines all four athletes’ scores to determine which nations would have the honor of calling themselves the first-ever Olympic Champions in the event. With Canada’s best-ever World Cup team result coming from a mixed team event, the Canadian quad had their eye on the competition long before the commencement of the games.
After coming off an Olympic personal best in the Men’s Individual Normal Hill, the veteran of the team Mackenzie Boyd Clowes would play a decisive role in the team’s final result. Having two jumps of 101.5m he would lead the team in points. After facing difficult conditions in the Women’s Individual event, Abigail Strate would get her redemption with jumps of 93.5m and 91.5m, giving her the 3rd best performance out of her round. Also getting redemption would be Alexandria Loutitt who despite having a great first-round jump in the Women’s Individual event would be disqualified due to a ski length violation. Today she would pass through equipment control with no problems to put down two great jumps of 84m, and 90m. “I’m still processing it, this does not feel real. This medal for ski jumping in Canada brings light to our sport and reminds people that our sport is real and that Canadians can be successful in it,” said Louttit at the bottom of the ski jump. The final member of the team Matthew Soukup would have some of his best jumps of the games thus far, flying to 87m and 89m.
The competition was riddled with multiple disqualifications to some of the key countries such as Japan, Germany, and Austria, opening the door for the Canadian quad to rise to the occasion. Consistent jumps, and great style points would be enough to earn their way onto the final spot on the podium.
Slovenia would take Gold finishing with a combined 1001.5 points, Silver would go to the Russian Olympic Committee with 890.3 points, and Canada in Bronze with 844.6 points.
This result is truly a testament to the athletes’ perseverance, determination, and optimism.
Since the closure of Canada’s last year-round ski jumping facility at Canada’s Winsport Olympic Park in Calgary, AB. Canadian Ski Jumpers have been at a disadvantage compared to their competition. Not only do they have no home training facility but are one of the least funded winter Olympic sports in Canada. Canadian Ski Jumpers spend upwards of 10 months a year away from home, training and competing around the world to represent Canada in the sport they love. Yet with all of the adversity and additional challenges they face, Canada is able to not only qualify four Athletes to the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics but stand on the podium in a sport that has forever been dominated by Europeans.
These four athletes will go down in history for winning Canada’s first-ever Olympic Ski Jumping medal. A result that will inspire a future generation of Canadian ski jumpers for years to come.
Complete Results:
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:
Nathaniel Mah
Media and Public Relations
Ski Jumping Canada
E-mail: nmah@nordiqcanada.ca
