LILLEHAMMER, Norway—Canadian ski jumper Abigail Strate launched her Olympic-season campaign with a strong statement Saturday, soaring to a silver medal at the World Cup opener and matching the best result of her career.
The 24-year-old Calgarian delivered jumps of 129 and 121 metres for a two-round total of 259.7 points, securing her sixth World Cup podium. The result equals her previous career high—another silver earned on New Year’s Day in Oberstdorf, Germany, nearly two years ago.
“Not a bad start. It feels really good,” Strate said with a laugh after the event. “I can’t really process that this is the life I’m living right now. I’ve struggled in this sport for so long. I always look at the top athletes with so much awe and now I’m up there regularly with them. Yes, it feels comfortable right now, but it’s insane.”
Strate entered the weekend in strong form after qualifying in third on Friday, and she wasted little time signalling she intends to contend throughout the Olympic year. Competing in challenging conditions on the large hill—a format set to make its Olympic debut at the 2026 Games in Milano-Cortina—she kept pace with the world’s top jumpers despite mounting pressure.
“My qualifying jump was the best one. I was the most relaxed and calm,” she said. “In today’s competition there was some stress in the air. I could have opened up and flown a little further, but I’m just trying to put myself in the mindset of training. That’s always the goal – just focus on the jumps and get them as good as I can.”
That mindset paid off with a confident performance that placed her behind Japan’s Nozomi Maruyama, who claimed gold with 285.5 points. Austria’s Lisa Eder secured bronze with 255.4.
“I was a bit stressed today, but it is the best feeling in the world to finish a day and say you did a good job and see your coaches smiling and everyone celebrating,” Strate added. “It is very fulfilling because I also know the feeling of finishing a day and feeling completely disappointed.”
The result caps a standout stretch for Strate, who carried momentum from a stellar Grand Prix summer, where she reached the podium in all five events she entered. Her off-season run included victories in Courchevel, France, and at the 2026 Olympic venue in Val di Fiemme, Italy.
“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. Today was the ice breaker being the first competition of the winter season. I’m really happy it did chalk up today 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 increasingly proven her ability to secure consecutive top-tier finishes. Last season, she notched three straight podiums—bronze, silver, and bronze—spanning the end of 2023 and the start of 2024. Prior to that run, her career podiums included a bronze in Hinzenbach, Austria, last year and another in Hinterzarten, Germany, in 2023.
On Saturday, fellow Calgarian Nicole Maurer finished 22nd with 205.3 points. Maurer entered the weekend as the fastest athlete through the in-run across both men’s and women’s qualifying rounds, reaching speeds of 94 and 94.2 km/h.
In Friday’s mixed team event, Strate and Maurer joined Mackenzie Boyd-Clowes and Tarik VanWieren to place eighth with 792.4 points. The format features two men and two women per nation, with combined scores determining team standings.
“The mixed team was awesome for us,” Strate said. “We have Mack who is making his comeback, and Tarik who is a junior experiencing his first ever World Cup as well as Nicole who was in her first mixed team event so there was a lot of new for us and we were just trying to make second round. We were sitting in sixth for quite a while. I love the team events. It was cool to watch and celebrate all my teammates doing well and being excited for each other. It was a really good day.”
Japan won the 15-team event with 1,034 points.
The World Cup circuit continues Sunday in Lillehammer with another large hill competition.
