Canada's world champion ski jumper Alex Loutitt claimed a second bronze medal in as many days in the Grand Prix Summer Series. Loutitt flies through the air during the RAW AIR women's ski jumping HS 124 during the Holmenkollen Ski Festival, Oslo, Norway, Saturday March 11, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-NTB, Geir Olsen
COURCHEVEL, France – Canada’s world champion ski jumper Alex Loutitt claimed a second bronze medal in as many days in the ski jumping Grand Prix Summer Series.
The 19-year-old Calgarian finished third Sunday behind victor Nika Kriznar of Slovenia and runner-up Sara Takanashi of Japan.
Abigail Strate of Calgary finished fourth.
Summer ski jumping is contested on in-run tracks made of porcelain and grass landing slopes covered in water-soaked plastic.
Kriznar posted a top score of 231.7 points for back-to-back gold.
Takanashi scored 188.3 and Loutitt 182.9 on the 132-metre hill in Courchevel, France.
“It has been a great start to the new season and a weekend of firsts for me; my first Grand Prix podium, and my first back-to-back podiums,” Loutitt said.
“It is a really good confidence boost to start the season with two podium finishes.”
Loutitt became Canada’s first ski jumping world champion when she took gold in the women’s large hill event March 1 in Slovenia.
After struggling to feel comfortable on Courchevel’s ramp in previous competitions, Loutitt strung together four solid jumps over two days to twice land on the podium.
She ranked fifth after her first leap Sunday with a distance of 116 metres.
Loutitt added another nine metres on her second pass to vault into medal position.
“Courchevel has been a difficult hill compared to others so it’s a good hill to practice patience and focus on,” Loutitt said.
Strate, 22, ranked second after her first jump of 124.5 metres, but finished four points back of her teammate with a second effort of 118 metres.
“I am surprised with where my jumps measured up against the rest of the field, as I still feel I have lots of room to improve, and there is lots of time left in the summer training period,” Strate said.
“I made some small technical adjustments with my flight today, and remembered to pull away from the hill.
“I wasn’t expecting such good results already, as I am still searching for consistency in training.”
Strate, Loutitt, MacKenzie Boyd-Clowes and Matthew Soukup combined for an Olympic bronze medal in the inaugural mixed team event last year in Beijing.
The second of five summer Grand Prix stops is Aug. 5-6 in Szczyrk, Poland.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 30, 2023.
