Norwegian skiing star Aleksander Aamodt Kilde has revealed how he and girlfriend Mikaela Shiffrin became each other’s biggest source of strength during a brutal 2024-2025 season that saw both athletes sidelined by serious injuries.
In a wide-ranging interview with Olympics.com published Wednesday, the two-time Olympic medalist reflected on the parallel comebacks that have defined the past year for the sport’s most high-profile couple.
“It hasn’t been easy for one of us—it’s been for both of us,” Kilde said. “We’ve been a rock for each other through everything. When one was down, the other tried to lift them up. That balance has been everything.”
Kilde, 33, suffered a severe shoulder dislocation and deep lacerations in a terrifying crash during the Wengen downhill in January 2025, an accident that required multiple surgeries and forced him to miss the entire World Cup speed season. Meanwhile, Shiffrin was still rebuilding from her own near-career-ending abdominal injury sustained in Killington in November 2024.
The couple spent months rehabilitating side-by-side in Austria and the United States, often training at reduced intensity together when their medical teams allowed it.
“There were days when I could barely lift my arm and days when Mikaela was struggling with core stability,” Kilde recalled. “But seeing her fight every single day made me fight harder. And I think she would say the same about me.”
The mutual support paid off: Shiffrin returned to the World Cup podium in March 2025 and has since added seven victories, bringing her historic tally to 104 wins. Kilde, while not yet back in speed events, has been cleared for giant slalom training and is targeting a January 2026 return—just in time for the Milan-Cortina Olympics.
“We’ve both been through the darkest moments you can have in this sport,” he said. “Coming out the other side together makes everything stronger—our relationship, our motivation, our belief that we can still achieve big things.”
When you go through something like that as a couple, you either break or you become unbreakable. I think we chose the second option.”
Shiffrin echoed the sentiment in her emotional Instagram post earlier this week, tagging Kilde and writing, “Feeling very thankful right now.” Kilde responded simply: “Forever my rock.
With both athletes now officially qualified for the 2026 Winter Games, the skiing world is watching to see if the couple widely regarded as the “power pair” of alpine racing can return to the Olympic podium together, two years after heartbreak in Beijing.
As Kilde put it: “We’ve already won the biggest battle. The medals would just be the bonus.”
