Deep insights

Shiffrin emotional: “That changed my life”

Skiing dream couple Aleksandar Aamodt Kilde and Mikaela Shiffrin suffered many setbacks last season. Shiffrin was hit particularly hard by the fall of her fiancé. "His fall changed my life," says the 29-year-old.

Shiffrin was a spectator at the Olympic Games in Paris. Something unique. "I've always taken part as an athlete myself," Shiffrin revealed in an interview with Eurosport. "This was a really great experience." Because, although she is a winter sportswoman, she loves the summer. And after eight weeks of training, it was nice "to get in touch with the sports world again, with other athletes".

She shared her excitement with gymnast Simone Biles and hurdler Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, among others, as her Instagram posts suggest.

"That was really frightening"
When asked on Eurosport about her fiancé Kilde's serious fall in the downhill in Wengen in January, Shiffrin became very emotional. "Aleks' crash changed my life. Especially as I've experienced so much in the last five years and had to visit too many people I love in hospital," she said. Her grandma died in 2019 and her dad a year later.

Shiffrin explained about Kilde: "Seeing him there, having so many questions after his accident and not knowing how he was doing, it was really scary. It was traumatic for him. But I couldn't let it get to me too much because I had to get back into race mode and be strong for the rest of the season - and then I crashed myself."

Two weeks after Kilde's fall, the US American injured her knee in Cortina. The five-time overall World Cup winner fought her way back in the middle of the season. Kilde, on the other hand, is currently working hard for his return.

"The challenge is to keep getting back up," said Shiffrin about the falls in the Ski World Cup: "But we do it because we love it. The sport gets more exciting, you always want to see how far you can push it. There are things you can improve. That's my motivation and I've been lucky, I haven't crashed that often."

The Ski World Cup opener is on October 26 and 27 in Sölden. Hopefully the fall rate will drop in the new season.