Float like Abi: How Canada's Strate leans on beekeeping to master art of ski jumping

For two straight World Cups, Abi Strate has been missing the bee sticker on her right ski.

The Canadian also hasn't reached the podium in either event.

Yes, it is highly likely that correlation does not equal causation in this instance, and that Strate, the ski jumper from Calgary, is capable of winning a medal regardless of whether there is an image of a black-and-yellow bug attached to her equipment.

But there is at least one sting of strategy associated with her bee sticker.

"I have it on my right ski so I always know which ski to put on which foot without thinking about it too much, because you never want to put the wrong ski on the wrong foot," said Strate, who is a certified beekeeper.

Strate, 23, was part of the Canadian team that won bronze in a mixed event at the 2022 Beijing Olympics, securing the country's first-ever ski jumping medal.

She appears to only be rising from there. In a five-day stretch as 2023 turned into 2024, Strate collected three World Cup medals, then added one more later in January.

Now, as she approaches a similarly busy stretch of schedule, the ski jumper known as "The Bee" is aiming to recreate that success as a launching pad into February's world championships in Norway and the Milan-Cortina Olympics one year later.

"Whenever I'm waiting to jump, especially in a competition, and I catch a glimpse of [the bee sticker], it always makes me smile because it's just a little cartoon bee and it's so silly and I don't know, it brings everything else into perspective. Like, it's really not that deep. Sport should be fun," Strate said.

Strate called the beginning of her fascination with bees "super random."

It all started when she and her dad, Rod, took a beekeeping course together — partially