The 2018 Winter Olympics is in full swing, and with athletes from all over the world competing for gold, it’s time to start paying attention to some of the most popular sports in America.
Ski racing has been a favorite global sport since its introduction during the 1800s by Norwegian skiers who built wooden tracks on their snowy hillsides that they raced down on skis. Today there are multiple disciplines including Alpine (downhill) racing where Mikaela Shiffrin won her first Olympic gold medal last month at age 23and two-time overall World Cup champion Aleksander Aamodt Kilde this past weekend making him an even hotter commodity coming into these games. It should be interesting to see how both Olympians will do as they storm through these games!
Mikaela Shiffrin and Aleksander Aamodt Kilde are a power couple in ski racing. They have been dating since the 2014-2015 season.
Mikaela Shiffrin laughs when you ask her how she and Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, a Norwegian Alpine standout, became ski racing’s power couple.
“It’s a very current narrative,” Shiffrin, a two-time Olympic gold medallist for the United States, said with a smile. “In Millennial fashion.”
Friendships on Facebook dating back many years, private chats, SMS, and Instagram. Finally, a face-to-face first date was set up. Then there were coronavirus outbreaks on the World Cup ski racing circuit last winter.
Shiffrin laughed as she sat in her Colorado home late last year, “I was so worried, I had him obtain a negative Covid test.” “Isn’t it romantic?”
They went on a stroll together, but kept their distance of six feet despite wearing masks.
“I thought to myself, ‘This is a terrible way to start anything,’” Shiffrin said. “But he handled it well; he was supercool.” And, believe it or not, we had a nice time.”
Kilde, who is a multiple gold medal candidate in this month’s Beijing Olympics, had reached out in a more moving manner months before. Kilde, aware that Shiffrin was still grieving after the loss of her father, Jeff Shiffrin, in a car accident in 2020, wrote a message offering to listen if she needed someone to speak to.
“I told her, ‘You’re going to regret it,’” Shiffrin recalled. “However, it sparked a discussion that hasn’t finished.” ‘You know, you’re my boyfriend,’ I stated at one point. We’ve just met once, yet you’re my boyfriend.’ “Yeah, I am,” he said.
Kilde went on a beach vacation to Maui with Mikaela’s mother, Eileen, who is also her daughter’s coach; her elder brother, Taylor; and his future wife, Kristi, after the racing season concluded last spring. The couple made their romance public in early July, with social media postings showing them riding over the Brooklyn Bridge while in New York for the ESPYs.
Shiffrin, who will be 27 next month, spends most of her spare time training near her home in Colorado, and Kilde, 29, joined her, performing leg weight training against the Rocky Mountains as a background.
“The man can squat a house, it’s impossible to keep up,” claimed Shiffrin, who exacted vengeance in a neighboring cul-de-sac with a unicycling challenge. (Shiffrin has been riding a unicycle for balance training since she was a toddler.)
Investigate the Games
Kilde noted in December after winning two World Cup events in Beaver Creek, Colorado, that “we make each other better and learn from one other as skiers.” “But, most importantly, I like spending time with her.” It’s simply a plus that she’s a skier, as I’ve mentioned many times.”
Shiffrin’s friendship with Kilde, according to those close to her, was a turning point in her rehabilitation following her father’s death.
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9:03 a.m. ET, February 5, 2022
Eileen Shiffrin said, “Mikaela had come to the point where she had simply shut it all off.” “I felt Mikaela had something to wake up for after Aleks.” She was upbeat, and she laughed once more. It was fantastic to see. She was looking forward to the next adventure, which included skiing.”
Shiffrin’s colleagues and coaches on the US ski team saw the same thing when she returned to on-snow practices: a light had returned to her eyes.
“Because Aleks has such a passion for skiing, it reminded me that I needed to stop just going through the motions on the hill and rediscover my passion for skiing,” Shiffrin said, sitting at home in front of a wall adorned with just a few of her 22 World Cup season-title globes and world championship medals. “I didn’t want to go through the motions any longer after seeing Aleks.” “I wanted to fall in love with skiing once again.”
Kilde downplayed his part in Shiffrin’s comeback, which puts her leading the overall World Cup rankings this season. Instead, he said that she assisted him in his recovery after tearing his right anterior cruciate ligament in January 2021.
“We each have distinct ski racing experiences,” Kilde said, “and we can share them and have talks that you can’t really have with anybody else.” But all I’m saying is that she inspires me.”
In Beijing, Kilde will be the favorite in the men’s downhill and super-G. Shiffrin plans to participate in all five women’s Alpine events, and she expects to be a medal contender in four of them, with a possibility to win multiple golds. She’s won four times in slalom and giant slalom this season (with four second-place finishes) and finished third twice in the super-G. In the women’s combined, which consists of one downhill run and one slalom run, Shiffrin will be the favorite. The event hasn’t been raced on the World Cup this season, but it showcases Shiffrin’s flexibility as a skilled speed event skier, as well as her unrivaled record of 47 World Cup career slalom wins, the most of any male or female racer.
Shiffrin said she and Kilde had discussed how to peak for the Games in a phone conversation from Austria last month. Those discussions have mostly revolved on their mental preparedness. Since last summer, Shiffrin has been seeing a sports psychologist.
“Rather than attempting to avoid or reject the pressure that will be there,” she added, “it’s more about acknowledging the pressure that will be present.”
Shiffrin recognizes that she will be the Olympics’ American face.
“I’d rather that than coming to the Olympics and feeling like no one is depending on me because I’ve been skiing very, really slowly,” she chuckled quietly. Shiffrin has the potential to break records for the most career Alpine gold medals won by an American and the most Olympic Alpine medals won by a woman.
Shiffrin opened the 2021-22 racing season with a win at Solden, Austria, in October. She appeared astonished when she noticed Kilde behind a waist-high barrier at the finish line, after waving to a roaring throng. Shiffrin ran over, beaming, for a hug and kiss.
Since then, they haven’t seen one other on a regular basis. As they hopscotch throughout Europe and Scandinavia, the men’s and women’s World Cup racing circuits do not connect.
On Monday, though, Shiffrin shared a photo of herself and Kilde inside the Beijing Olympic Village on her social media pages.
“Reunited,” Shiffrin wrote above the photo, which shows Kilde with his left arm outstretched and his left finger bending downward just enough to touch Shiffrin’s right arm under a jacket and long-sleeved shirt.
This is a very contemporary tale.
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