Alexandria Loutitt became Canada’s first woman to stand on the top step of the podium in a World Cup ski jumping event following her victory in a normal hill competition held on Friday in Zao , in Japan.
Loutitt, a Calgary native who celebrated her 19e birthday last Saturday, achieved his first career World Cup podium with a total score of 240.3 points.
This score allowed her to lead by more than eight points the Austrian Eva Pinkelnig (231.8), who largely dominates the general classification of the World Cup. Chiara Kreuzer (228.6), also from Austria, completed the podium.
Loutitt also became the second Canadian woman to reach one of the three World Cup podiums after Taylor Heinrich, who placed third at two competitions held in 2015, in Germany and Norway.
On the men’s side, Horst Bulau, in 1983, was the last ski jumper from Canada to win a World Cup event. Steve Collins, in 1980, is the only other Canadian to have achieved such a feat in the World Cup.
Loutitt first made a first jump which covered a distance of 98.5 meters, for a score of 125.2 points, almost 10 points more than Pinkelnig (115.6) then second in the provisional classification.
Loutitt secured his victory with a second jump from 95 meters, for a score of 115.1. Pinkelnig did a little better with a score of 116.2, but the gap Loutitt had created after the first round was too big to close.
Another Canadian finished the competition in the top 15, Abigail Strate (210.0) who placed 11e.
Since the end of 2022, Loutitt has continued to shine on the World Cup circuit. In the past three weeks, she has participated in seven official World Cup competitions and has finished in the top 10 on six occasions, including fourth places in Austria on December 28 and Slovenia on January 1. .
At the Beijing Olympics, Loutitt was on the third step of the podium in the mixed team competition.