Canadian ski jumper Abi Strate captures 1st career World Cup gold

Canadian ski jumper Abi Strate started the new year with a bang by soaring to her first career World Cup victory on Thursday.

The 24-year-old from Calgary captured gold on the large hill in Oberstdorf, Germany with 268.2 points.

Strate topped China’s Zeng Ping by 10.5 points. Zeng landed in second with 257.7 points, followed by Germany’s Selina Freitag with 257.3.

“This has been my dream since I can remember. I didn’t know if it would ever happen, but I have always been chasing it. I frickin’ did it,” said Strate, who was second in Oberstdorf two years ago.

“The German hills seem to agree with me. The first training jump today I was third. I had zero problems. The inrun is very important to me and this one is just perfect for me to find that comfortable position.”

After a seventh-place finish Wednesday in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Strate credited the support of her Slovenian-based coaching team for leading her to the eighth World Cup podium of her career and third of the season.

“Today was a bit surprising for me. I think I have been struggling a bit this winter to be as relaxed because I likely felt a bit of pressure, especially after the two early season podiums, and was chasing it rather than being present in the jumps,” Strate said.

“The coaches and I had made a plan that maybe we’d go back to training and find the good jumps, but just being connected with them and talking things through with the coaches completely chilled me out today.”

Strate carried a sizeable 15-point lead into the final round with the elite 20 after posting the jump of the day, covering 136 metres while earning 146.1 points on her first attempt.

“The first round was insanely good. It was one of those jumps where everything came together,” Strate said. “I had been struggling in my inrun position, but we made a plan to think about it less. I hit the take-off perfectly. I didn’t do anything crazy or stressful in the air and flew it down there.

“I was in a bubble today. I didn’t even realize what was going on. I’ve never led a World Cup before. I never had such a lead in a World Cup, but I felt really comfortable in that position. I like it up there.”

Strate won two silver medals earlier this season in big hill jumping in Lillehammer, Norway and Wisla, Poland, and an Olympic test event this past September in Predazzo, Italy.

She was part of Canada’s historic Olympic bronze-medal winning foursome in the mixed team event in Beijing in 2022. The large hill competition will make its Olympic debut at Milano-Cortina in February.