Canada’s Abigail Strate continued her strong early-season form on Thursday, claiming a silver medal at the Ski Jumping World Cup large hill event in Wisla, Poland, with the best jump of the final round and one of the most composed performances of her career.
Strate, 24, posted a combined 240.9 points over two jumps, securing her second World Cup silver in as many weeks and the seventh podium finish of her nine-year international career. The Calgarian now sits among the most consistent contenders on the women’s circuit in the lead-up to the 2026 Milano-Cortina Olympic Winter Games.
“I’m so, so happy with that. I jumped for the soul today,” Strate said after the competition. “I was struggling a bit in Sweden and a bit in training, but I pulled it off when it counted. That second jump is the one I’ve been waiting for all season. That proves what I can do.”
Strate entered the final round in fourth position but delivered a 131-metre leap — the farthest in the closing heat — to surge into the silver-medal spot, finishing just 5.1 points behind Norway’s Anna Odine Stroem, who claimed gold with 246.0 points. Japan’s Nozomi Maruyama rounded out the podium with 236.9 points. World Cup ski jumps are scored on distance and style, with wind and gate adjustments also factored into final totals.
The performance offered a well-timed rebound for Strate, who said she had battled self-doubt during the previous week of competition. “I think my mind was starting to beat me up a bit in Falun (last week). I was trying to keep myself calm because there can be a lot of noise (in an athlete’s) mind. I felt the good jumps weren’t far away. I just had to click the right buttons,” she said.
She credited a cross-country ski training session earlier in the week — suggested by coaches to fine-tune her in-run speed — as a key source of improvement. “That’s the grit our team has. We have a problem. We diagnose it. We fix it and get back to work the next day. I did not want to spend my day off on cross-country skis, but I’m so happy for the coaches I have around me who knew what I needed.”
With women’s large hill ski jumping set to debut at the 2026 Olympic Winter Games, Strate’s podium pattern offers encouraging signs. All three of her career silver medals have come on large hills, including a runner-up finish in Lillehammer earlier this season and another in Oberstdorf on New Year’s Day 2023. “I hope its not a 90 metre versus a big hill thing. When the jumps are good it works on both and that’s how I hope it is when the Olympics come around because we do have to jump on both,” she said.
Beyond her winter results, Strate’s rise gained momentum during the summer Grand Prix season. Nicknamed “Bee” on the World Cup circuit and a certified beekeeper away from sport, she reached the podium in all five summer events she entered, including two wins in Courcheval, France, and Val di Fiemme, Italy — the future Olympic venue for ski jumping. “The winter is the heavy hitter. You can win whatever you want in the summer, but if it doesn’t add up and deliver in the winter it doesn’t matter – this is a winter sport afterall,” she said. “There is a stigma in ski jumping that if you do well in summer you won’t in winter. I’m really happy it’s chalking up the same way it did in the summer. I’ve never done this before, it is really cool. I feel like the pressure is gone and I can just keep going for it.”
Strate has also demonstrated an ability to string together podium results. Last season she produced three consecutive top-three finishes — a bronze, a silver and another bronze — and she added two more podiums earlier in her career, including bronze medals in Hinzenbach, Austria, and Hinterzarten, Germany.
Calgary’s Nicole Maurer was the only other Canadian to advance into Thursday’s 30-jumper final in Wisla, finishing 29th with 178.5 points.
Strate, Maurer and the rest of the women’s World Cup field return to the large hill Friday as competition continues in Poland.
Ski Jumping Canada, the sport’s national governing body, oversees domestic competitions and manages the national team program. More information is available at skijumpingcanada.com.
