Calgary’s Abigail Strate wins birthday bronze at World Cup ski jump in Austria

Canada's Abigail Strate competes at the women's normal hill individual ski jumping World Cup event in Villach, Austria on Thursday, Jan. 4, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Darko Bandic

Calgary’s Abigail Strate got her birthday present a day late – but it was worth waiting for.

Strate won bronze on Sunday in a World Cup event in Austria for her first World Cup ski jumping medal of the season.

Strate, from Calgary, scored 226.6 points over two jumps on the normal-size hill.

She covered a distance of 86.5 metres on her first jump and 87.5 metres on her second.

Saturday, she turned 24.

The Ski Jumping Canada Instagram page featured a photo originally posted by @fisskijumping of a smiling Strate with the caption “When your birthday gift arrives the day after but it’s a World Cup podium.”

Slovenia’s Nika Prevc won gold with 244.0 points and Germany’s Selina Freitag took silver (241.5).

It was Strate’s sixth career World Cup medal.

Another Calgary ski jumper, Nicole Maurer, finished 16th.

With files from The Canadian Press