Mikaela Shiffrin, tears of joy over Aleksander Aamodt Kilde’s return
It was Jan. 13, 2024, and Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, on the last turn of the Wengen downhill, due to a mistake in the immediately preceding esse, violently ends up against the protections. In the impact he gets a dislocated shoulder and if help had not been timely he would also have risked bleeding to death, as had happened in the test in 1991 in the same spot to Austrian Gernot Reinstadler, because the skis that came off gave him a cut in his calf. A very serious injury and one that moreover could also have ended in tragedy, but fortunately it did not.
From that moment, however, a very long ordeal began for the Norwegian, with repeated surgeries mainly due to a shoulder infection in July 2024. But yesterday, at last, after 684 days of absence, he finally returned to World Cup racing in the Copper Mountain super-G with a 24th place finish that is an excellent starting point in view of the continuation of the season, which includes the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games as its highlight. And cheering him on at the finish line was his fiancée Mikaela Shiffrin, the greatest female skier of all time, who will be competing in the giant slalom and slalom on the Colorado resort’s slopes this weekend.
“It’s really nice, a real dream to take on this race. I had so many scenarios in mind, but I never imagined it would be so wonderful and intense,” Kilde told ORF. “I was very nervous today, it was simply a huge effort from Aleksander and his whole team. I know that feeling, when you feel ready but you don’t know what’s going to happen. I’m super proud of him,” he was echoed by a Shiffrin in tears of joy. For the record, the race was won by the dominator of the White Circus, Switzerland’s Marco Odermatt, who was overjoyed at the return of a great rival but at the same time great friend.
Aleksander Aamodt Kilde was born on September 21, 1992, so he turned 33 just over two months ago. His palmares is very rich: a specialist in fast races who does not disdain some participation in the giant, a specialty in which moreover he made his debut in the White Circus in 2012, with yesterday’s he has competed in 219 World Cup races, winning 21 of them and finishing on the podium 27 other times. He took home the overall Cup in 2020, the downhill Cup in 2022 and 2023, and the super-G in 2016 and 2022. At the World Championships he won two silvers, both in 2023 in downhill and super-G, while at the Olympics in 2022 he took a silver in combined and a bronze in super-G.
