Gwich’in ski jumper completes stellar ascent with senior world title

Gwich’in ski jumper Alexandria Loutitt is now a senior world champion, completing an astonishing year of firsts in a sport Canadians do not traditionally dominate.

Loutitt, part of last year’s historic Olympic bronze medal-winning team, won a World Cup – ski jumping’s premier circuit of events – for the first time in January, then added a junior world title last month.

Normally, the gap from junior to senior world gold is significant. However, Loutitt on Wednesday beat Norwegian two-time world champion Maren Lundby to senior gold in the women’s large hill event, less than a month after the 19-year-old’s junior title.

“When I’m able to just focus on my jumps and go into my bubble, the outcome is phenomenal,” Loutitt said.

“Since I started in this sport, I’ve always dreamt of becoming a world champion … this means so much to me and for the Canadian ski jumping community.”

Canada’s top ski jumpers live and train in Slovenia, where the senior world championships are being held this week, since facilities in Canada from Olympics past are now shuttered. The sport has campaigned for some of those facilities to be reinstated, a message that is amplified with every major success – world medals often being determinants of funding.

Loutitt is from Calgary. Her connection to Inuvik’s Nihtat Gwich’in comes from her great-grandmother, Fort McPherson resident Laura McLeod, and her great-grandfather, Colin Loutitt.

The Gwich’in Tribal Council has wholeheartedly embraced Loutitt’s success on the world stage.

“A beaming proud Gwich’in Nation stands behind you, Alexandria,” the GTC wrote online after her world junior gold in February.