One week after launching What’s the Point with Mikaela Shiffrin, the American ski queen has released a bonus mini-episode that has left the alpine world speechless. Recorded in a quiet hotel room above the Rettenbach Glacier, Mikaela Shiffrin and fiancé Aleksander Aamodt Kilde sat knee-to-knee, microphones hot, and spoke the words no champion ever wants to say out loud.
“I still wake up tasting blood,” Kilde began, voice low. “Wengen, January 13, 2024. I remember the fence ripping my calf open, the helicopter blades, and then… nothing. When I came to, the doctor said, ‘You almost didn’t make it.’ Sepsis. Four surgeries. Nights I begged Mikaela to leave because I was scared I’d drag her down with me.”
Shiffrin, eyes glassy, reached for his hand. “I didn’t leave. I couldn’t. But then Killington happened to me—November 30, same year. One second I’m chasing win 100, next second a gate punches a hole through my oblique. I laughed in the hospital because coughing hurt so much I thought I’d die. That’s when the nightmares started: every gate had teeth.”
For 38 unscripted minutes—now streaming on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts—the couple dissected the invisible injuries that followed their visible ones.
Kilde on PTSD:
“PTSD isn’t a broken bone you X-ray. It’s 3 a.m. panic that the mountain will kill you next time. I lost 10 kilos of muscle and every ounce of confidence. I’d watch downhill replays and vomit. Therapy taught me to name the fear: ‘Hello, old friend. You’re loud today.’ Saying it out loud steals its power.”
Shiffrin on intrusive thoughts:
“Giant slalom used to be my sanctuary. After Killington, every turn flashed the crash. I’d freeze mid-run, heart rate 190, convinced the snow would swallow me. My psychologist gave me a checklist: flashbacks, hyper-vigilance, avoidance. I ticked every box. Admitting I had PTSD felt like failing. Turns out it was the first step to winning again.”
They spoke of shared rituals: 6 a.m. breathing drills on FaceTime, “fear journals” they read aloud to each other, and a pact to celebrate tiny victories—one painless shoulder rotation, one clean GS turn.
“Love isn’t Instagram sunsets,” Shiffrin said. “It’s Aleks holding my hair while I cry because I can’t lift a coffee cup. It’s me cutting his steak when his deltoid wouldn’t fire. We became each other’s physio, therapist, and finish-line tape.”
Kilde, who has not raced in 661 days, revealed he skied 12 cautious turns last Thursday—his first since the crash. “I was shaking at the top. Mikaela’s voice in my head: ‘Feel the fear, then ski anyway.’ I did. And the mountain didn’t bite.”
The episode ends with a vow:
Shiffrin: “Milano Cortina is 100 days away. We’re not chasing medals—we’re chasing the version of ourselves who believes the snow is safe.”
Kilde: “If I never podium again, I’ve already won. I get to wake up next to the bravest human I know.”
