Abigail Strate from Canada after jumping at the women's large hill at the Nordic World Cup in Oberstdorf, Germany, Thursday Jan. 1, 2026. (Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/dpa via AP)
January 20, 2026 - 3:25 AM
CALGARY — Two athletes who helped Canada win its first Olympic ski jumping medal will be back at the Milan Cortina Games, but the mixed team that achieved the breakthrough won't be back for another shot at the podium.
Olympic veterans Abigail Strate and Mackenzie Boyd-Clowes were announced as part of Canada's four-member team in a joint release Tuesday from Ski Jumping Canada and the Canadian Olympic Committee.
They will be joined by Natalie Eilers and Nicole Maurer, who are making their Olympic debuts. All four athletes are from Calgary.
Strate and Boyd-Clowes were part of Canada's mixed ski jumping team that won a historic bronze medal at the 2022 Beijing Games.
But Canada cannot field a mixed team in Italy with Boyd-Clowes the only male jumper to qualify. Strate, Eilers and Maurer will compete in women's events.
The athletes will participate in both normal hill and large hill competitions.
The team is missing 2023 world and world junior women's champion Alex Loutitt, who suffered a season-ending knee injury in September at a Summer Grand Prix Olympic test event in Predazzo, Italy.
Strate enters her second Olympics as one of Canada's medal hopefuls. The 24-year-old captured her first career World Cup victory this winter and added two silver medals on the elite circuit.
She had a successful summer on the Grand Prix tour, finishing on the podium in all five events she entered. That included victories in Courchevel, France, and at the Olympic test event.
Boyd-Clowes, 24, returns for his fifth Olympics after returning to competition last year following a two-and-a-half-year break from ski jumping.
Eilers is back competing after a year-long knee injury, while Maurer consistently placed in the top-30 on the World Cup circuit this season.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 20, 2026.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2026