Mackenzie Boyd-Clowes

Biography

Mackenzie Boyd-Clowes played his part in a history-making moment at Beijing 2022. He and teammates Alexandria Loutitt, Matthew Soukup, and Abigail Strate won bronze in the inaugural Olympic mixed team ski jumping event. It was Canada’s first ever Olympic medal in ski jumping. Boyd-Clowes also earned his best career individual Olympic result, placing 16th in the normal hill event.

Boyd-Clowes made his Olympic debut at Vancouver 2010 as a member of the very young Canadian ski jumping team. At Sochi 2014 he was Canada’s top-ranked male ski jumper in both individual events. He improved on his Olympic results again at PyeongChang 2018 where he advanced to the final round in both the individual large hill and normal hill events, placing 21^st and 26^th, respectively.

Boyd-Clowes put himself into the history books in February 2013 when he became the first Canadian ski jumper to ever fly beyond the 200m mark. The jump of 205m came at a World Cup event in Harrachov, Czech Republic on a Flying Hill, which is much bigger than the large hills used in Olympic competition.

But Boyd-Clowes’ high was short-lived. Just one week later at a World Cup in Willingen, Germany he fractured his collarbone and suffered abrasions to his face when he fell on the landing of a jump off a small 30m hill. The competition had been cancelled due to strong winds, so a few of the jumpers decided to entertain the fans on the small hill that had been built in the middle of the landing area.

The record-setting jump in Harrachov helped him to a then-career best World Cup result of 19^th place. It was one of four top-30 individual results he posted on the World Cup circuit in 2012-13.  Boyd-Clowes earned his first World Cup top-10 result in January 2014, finishing ninth on a flying hill in Tauplitz/Bad Mitterndorf, Austria.

Boyd-Clowes would next break into a World Cup top-10 in November 2020 when he finished ninth in a large hill event in Wisla, Poland. A month later, he achieved his career-best World Cup result, placing sixth in a large hill event in Engelberg, Switzerland. He finished the 2020-21 season with his best overall ranking in the World Cup standings, 32^nd.

Boyd-Clowes has two top-10 finishes on the FIS Grand Prix circuit, the most recent in August 2018 when he finished ninth in the large hill in Hakuba, Japan. He has six career podiums on the Continental Cup circuit, highlighted by a normal hill gold in 2012 in Stams, Austria. He won two bronze medals on the large hill in Klingenthal, Germany in September 2019.

Boyd-Clowes has represented Canada at five FIS World Ski Championships since his debut in 2009. In 2019 and 2021 he broke into the top-30 in the individual large hill events. He has also competed at five Ski Flying World Championships, finishing a personal best 23^rd in 2020.

A Little More About Mackenzie

Getting into the Sport: Started ski jumping at age seven when his mother put him in a summer camp at Canada Olympic Park… She had seen an ad in a brochure and thought it would be a cool thing he would like… At age 10 was named to a developmental team that aimed to beat being the 2010 Olympic team; they got jump suits that said “WOG 2010: The Sweet Destiny” on the side… Took his first trip to Europe in the summer of 2003 and got to meet the world’s best jumpers… Outside Interests: Enjoys film, music and going to concerts, comedy, reading… In the off-season must go on non-sport-related trips… Odds and Ends: Inspired by Polish ski jumper Adam Malysz who came from a country where ski jumping is not hugely popular to be number one in the world; used to watch all his videos posted to a Polish fan website before YouTube was created…  A favourite Canadian Olympic athlete is triathlete Simon Whitfield…