Gwich’in Canadian ski jumper Alexandria Loutitt has earned the silver medal at the FIS Ski Jumping World Cup championships in Switzerland.
A third straight medal for the 19-year-old athlete, Loutitt climbed the podium after accumulating 290.2 points during the championship round on Dec. 15.
“I’m pretty happy even though I didn’t win,” she said. “My goal was not to be too early today. I was about three metres late (in my first jump) but I was able to find the middle ground and perfectly hit the takeoff (on my second jump) and it felt very good.”
Loutitt also had the longest jump of the day, soaring 139 metres on a familiar large hill. The success is extra sweet for Loutitt, who had knee surgery prior to breaking her foot in training last summer at Team Canada’s home base in Planica, Slovenia.
“It took me a couple of jumps to figure her out, but I finally got there, and I think that the really long knoll complements my style of jumping,” said Loutitt, who has family in the Beaufort Delta. “It’s hard not to get excited (when you nail the timing) and you know it is going to be good. You have all of these feelings happening at once. It is just an awesome feeling in the air, but you have to be patient. I know I lost the victory to style points, but even though I didn’t win, I can walk away happy because I don’t hold myself to the results, it’s about the process.
“After surgery, I was jumping, training and preparing, but I was really in recovery mode and then I broke my foot so I really didn’t have a full season.”
Large hills are typically 120 metres long while normal ski jump hills top out at 90 metres. Women’s large hill ski jumping is poised to make its Olympic debut at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano and Cortina, Italy.
Having already helped win Canada’s first ever Olympic medal in ski jumping at the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Japan, Loutitt said being injured helped her home in on the self-care needed to enable her to succeed in her sport.
“Even though I performed well last winter, I do think I needed to break my foot to realize the person I needed and wanted to be,” said Loutitt. “Knowing this (journey) could all be over in a second. It makes me appreciate things more and is the reason for where I am now.”