The 2026 Olympics are on the horizon for world champion ski jumper Alex Loutitt

The words “why not me” are tattooed on the back of Alexandria Loutitt’s hand between her thumb and wrist.

That motto served him well.

The 2026 Olympics in Milan-Cortina, Italy, are on the horizon for Canada’s first world ski jumping champion.

Loutitt won the 2023 world title in the women’s high hill event, which will make its Olympic debut in Italy alongside the normal hill competition.

“It’s the first time the women will have a big event on the hill, which is my specialty. It feels very exciting,” said the 20-year-old from Calgary. “It sure makes my heart skip a beat thinking about it.”

Loutitt became the first Canadian to win a World Cup gold medal in January 2023. The following month she started with a gold medal in the women’s junior world championship in Whistler, BC, and ended with a world title in Planica, Slovenia .

WATCH l Loutitt becomes Canada’s first ski jumping world champion:

The triumph was not without turmoil. She had finished 26th in the normal hill event at Planica before winning the big hill.

Before helping Canada’s mixed team win bronze in Beijing in 2022 for her country’s first Olympic medal in ski jumping, Loutitt was disqualified from the normal hill for being 300 grams underweight.

“Some of my best results and greatest achievements have come after some of my worst results,” she said. “I tend to thrive at a time when I’ve been knocked down.”

She believes some of her care stems from the stories she heard at her grandfather Sandy’s knee. Their Gwich’in First Nation heritage is through Sandy’s mother and Alex’s great-grandmother, Laura McLeod.

Sandy Loutitt, born in Fort Smith, NWT, attended residential school, worked as a cook at 14 at the airport, became a mining prospector as a teenager in Uranium City, Sask., drove taxis, oil and gas and barge businesses , and traveled the world despite poor eyesight that started in his youth.

“My father had a very hard life, but he chose to overcome those things and live exceptionally,” said Alex’s father, Sandy Loutitt Jr. “He kind of swung with both hands on the bat and lived large.

“Aboriginal culture, histories are oral. My father was a fantastic orator. Those stories, myths and jokes that encompass all these ideas, he did what every other old man before him did, he passed them on to his grandchildren orally. This is Ally’s link.

“Because he loved his grandfather, those stories had impact and meaning.”

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Loutitt internalized what she heard before her grandfather died in 2015.

“It’s those family values,” she said. “You keep pushing even when you know things are difficult and it seems like there is no way out and no opportunity, but you make opportunities and create change for yourself.”

Praise from Gwich’in leaders

She did not travel to the Northwest Territories because she did not have time. Loutitt lives and trains in Slovenia and competes in Europe most of the year.

Gwich’in leaders took note of her accomplishments, however, with praise on Facebook.

“It fills my heart to see First Nations youth excel – especially First Nations girls and young women!” wrote Yukon Vuntut Gwitchin MP Annie Blake when Loutitt won gold at the World Cup.

The Gwich’in Tribal Council congratulated Loutitt and teammates on their 2022 Olympic bronze.

“An amazing achievement by one of our young Gwich’in!” wrote Grand Chief Ken Kyikavichik at the time.

Beijing brought home to Loutitt the number of people who felt a connection with her.

“The support I got from that community, and not just the Gwich’in community, but a lot of Indigenous athletes supporting me and cheering me on was special and pretty exciting,” she said.

Loutitt has been on the World Cup podium eight times but is yet to finish with a medal this season. Her best result so far in 2024-25 was fifth on the big hill in Engelberg, Switzerland.

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Entering the key part of the season

The Canadian enters a key part of his season with back-to-back big hill World Cups on Tuesday and Wednesday in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Oberstdorf, Germany.

Loutitt was diagnosed with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) at the age of 18.

“Having the ability to think differently is a huge advantage, especially in a sport where you only have those few seconds, but you have hours before those few seconds to get it right,” she explained.

“I always describe my brain as a block of Swiss cheese. I have all these different thoughts in the little holes of the swiss cheese, but when the pressure is on, it’s like squashing the block and all the thoughts scatter.

“I have my system where 10 jumpers ahead of me say, ‘OK, we’re going to start thinking about ski jumping.’ When I go into the control box, once they put on my goggles, I think over and over again what are my steps that I’m going to take to create the result that I want.”

She calls ADHD her superpower.

“A lot of women with ADHD tend to struggle throughout life just because they can’t understand why they’re different and they feel like the world isn’t built for them,” Loutitt said.

“I hope that anyone with ADHD can see me and see that while the world wasn’t built for you to be normal, it’s made for you to be extraordinary.”