Mackenzie Boyd-Clowes makes final jump of career at Milano Cortina 2026

Five-time Olympian Mackenzie Boyd-Clowes has called it a career.

The 34-year-old ski jumper from Calgary, Alta., finished 45th in the men’s individual large hill at Milano Cortina 2026, his final competition.

Boyd-Clowes announced his retirement on social media ahead the day before the event.

“I’ve finally decided that 5 Olympics is enough for me to call it a real retirement,” he wrote in an Instagram post. “I’ll be saying goodbye after the Olympics to this wild sport that has given me stories and memories to last a few lifetimes.”

The veteran ski jumper squeezed everything he could out of his Olympic journey, which spanned 16 years.

He was pensive and emotional following his final Olympic jump, when asked what his career had meant to him.

“I put in more time in this sport than almost anyone ever,” he said. “It means a lot to me, but it’s also been so hard. I’m relieved that I can say goodbye now.”

On Saturday, Boyd-Clowes jumped to a distance of 119.5 metres for a total of 101.8 points in the first round. He could not crack the top 30 that qualified for the final.

Four years ago, he was part of a history-making moment at Beijing 2022 when, 12 years after his Olympic debut, he had the clutch jump that secured Canada’s first ever Olympic medal in ski jumping. He and his younger teammates Alexandria Loutitt, Matthew Soukup, and Abigail Strate won bronze in the inaugural Olympic mixed team ski jumping event.

Boyd-Clowes also had his career-best individual Olympic result in 2022, finishing 16th in the normal hill. He was just a teenager when he made his first Olympic appearance at Vancouver 2010.

After that, he became the first Canadian ski jumper to ever fly beyond the 200-metre mark, doing so at a FIS World Cup event in Harrachov, Czech Republic on a Flying Hill, with a mark of 205 metres.

It was no guarantee that Boyd-Clowes would return for this fifth Olympic Games, the first Canadian ski jumper to compete in that many. After the 2022-23 season, Boyd-Clowes took a two-and-a-half year hiatus from ski jumping. He returned to competition in September 2025 and earned his spot for Milano Cortina 2026.

“I truly think little Mackenzie would be over the moon,” he said when asked what he would tell himself 20 years ago. 

“I never thought this was possible.”