Double blow: the stars of alpine skiing, the Norwegian Aleksander Aamodt Kilde and the American Mikaela Shiffrin, announced their engagement as well as the Scandinavian’s return to the skis after his serious fall in January.
The couple, officially together since 2021, published photos on Instagram on the night of Thursday to Friday where we see Kilde offering a ring to a radiant Shiffrin.
The 31-year-old Norwegian said he made his decision in hospital where he was recovering from a dislocated shoulder and a deep laceration to his right calf caused by his spectacular fall during the descent from Wengen (Switzerland) on January 13.
“There have been a lot of ups and downs, that’s clear, but one of the highs has been the closeness with my family and, in particular, with Mikaela,” he confided during a program which is to be broadcast on Friday on the Norwegian channel NRK.
“During my stay in the hospital in Innsbruck (Austria), I told myself that the time had come. I called and ordered a ring. So I’m engaged,” he added.
Mikaela Shiffrin, 29, was also the victim of a fall at the end of January in Italy, which took her away from the circuit for a month and a half, but she made a triumphant return last month in Saalbach (Austria).
Kilde, who said in February that he was not sure he would be able to return to competition, clarified that he intended to make his return.
“I will be back. I feel that it can be done, that it is realistic,” he said, according to NRK.
“I’m 31 and it’s the best age in a way. I can keep going until I’m 40, but now is my time to shine. So I have to come back and try my luck again.”
Kilde won the overall World Cup ranking in 2019-20 as well as two downhill globes and two more in Super G.
Five-time winner of the big globe and double Olympic champion, Shiffrin has 97 World Cup successes, including 60 in slalom, her favorite discipline where she won eight small globes.
