The compelling story of Lauren Woolstencroft, Canada’s most accomplished winter Paralympic athlete, was shared with the world in a heart-tugging ad premiered during Sunday’s Super Bowl.

Woolstencroft was born without legs below the knee and no left arm below the elbow. Her journey to becoming one of the world’s premier alpine skiers is celebrated in a 60-second spot for Toyota.

It begins with a nurse pulling the infant from a crib. Script scrolls over: “Odds of winning a gold medal?” As the girl grows, walks, takes up ballet and begins to ski, the odds rapidly tick down: 1 in 997,500,000 to 1 in 148,983 as she zooms down a ski hill as a teen.

The ad called “Good Odds” shows that hard work and personal spirit shrink the young woman’s odds down to 1 in 120 and then 1 in 10.

And then she crosses the line at the Paralympics.

“When we’re free to move, anything is possible,” Woolstencroft says to close the ad.

“I think the intent was to kind of show my spirit, which was, especially as a youngster, a kind of determined, sort of stubborn young girl determined to do anything and everything,” the Calgary-born Woolstencroft told CTV Calgary.

That everything amounts to eight gold medals, one silver and one bronze in three Paralympic Games. She became the first Canadian winter Paralympic¬¬ to win five gold medals at a single competition, achieving that at the 2010 Paralympics in Vancouver.

The ad ran in the first post-kickoff commercial spot during the North American broadcast of the Super Bowl, which was estimated to draw more than 100 million viewers in the United States alone.

It’s the first time Toyota has not shown a vehicle in one of its ads, instead focusing on the theme: “Start your impossible.”

“I feel really proud of it. I’m really happy with how it all turned out,” Woolstencroft said of the commercial, which features a ballad of determination called “Stronger Than I’ve Ever Been” by Kaleena Zanders. Woolstencroft is hopeful the ad will help to raise the profile of Paralympic sports.

“Paralympics aren’t necessarily on the front of everyone’s mind and the Olympics get so much coverage, so I think it’s a huge deal that a Paralympian has an ad with this kind of play time.”

Woolstencroft, 36, began skiing at four and began racing at 14. Now an electrical engineer and a married mother of a young boy, she retired from competition after the Vancouver Paralympics. She will head to the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea in March as a broadcaster.

Toyota, which is positioning itself as a mobility company, says Woolstencroft’s career is a perfect example of sports inspiring people to overcome challenges to make their dreams come true.

“Whether they have a physical disability or not, but just to kind of show that journey,” she said. “I found when I was a young girl I didn’t necessarily have those kinds of role models that I could see on TV.”

With a report by CTV Calgary’s Ina Sidhu