Canadian ski jumper Abi Strate opens World Cup season with silver medal

Canadian ski jumper Abi Strate soared to a spot on the podium in her World Cup season opener on Saturday.

The Calgary native won a silver medal at the large hill event in Lillehammer, Norway.

Strate, 22, scored 259.7 points over the two-round competition. Japan's Nozomi Maruyama (285.5) won gold, while Lisa Eder of Austria (255.4) took bronze.

Canada's Nicole Mauer finished in 22nd place with 205.3 points.

It's a strong start to an Olympic year for Strate, who was part of Canada’s historic Olympic bronze-medal winning foursome in the mixed team event in Beijing in 2022.

Strate won a gold medal this past September at an Olympic test event in Predazzo, Italy.