COURCHEVEL — Canadian ski jumper Abigail Strate won gold at a Summer Grand Prix event Sunday for the first international victory of her career.
The Calgarian finished first on the large HS135 hill with 108.8 points. The result came a day after she took bronze.
"It is a little upgrade from yesterday,” said the 24-year-old Strate. “I’m still kind of overwhelmed with everything going on. I’ve never heard the Canadian anthem played on the podium for myself, so I was balling my eyes out.
"It was really good today. I’m so happy.”
Germany’s Selina Freitag took the silver medal with 108.3 points and Japan’s Nozomi Maruyama picked up bronze with 105.5.
It was the first victory for a Canadian ski jumper at Courchevel since Alexandra Pretorius won in 2012.
Alex Loutitt was eighth and Nicole Maurer, also from Calgary, was 17th.
Ski jumping is performed in the summer on an in-run where the tracks are made from porcelain and the grass on the slope is covered with water-soaked plastic.
In the first round, athletes jumped in groups of five with the top two in each group advancing to the second round.
Each of the top-20 competitors who headed back to the top of the hill started with zero points for the second round.
“I’ve been close (to winning) a bunch of times, but I always seem to have found a way to mess it up," Strate said. "It was a great feeling today, knowing you are done your job for the day, and I couldn’t do anything better. It is amazing."
The next stop on the Summer Grand Prix circuit begins Saturday in Wisla, Poland.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 10, 2025.
The Canadian Press
