Ski dream couple reveals secret of success - double gold at the Olympics?

Created: 01/27/2022, 1:48 p.m

By: Christoph Klaucke

Ski dream couple: Alexander Aamodt Kilde and Mikaela Shiffrin want to celebrate Olympic gold together.

© S.Jansen/M.Kainulainen/dpa

Mikaela Shiffrin and Aleksander Aamodt Kilde are the dream couple in winter sports.

Before the Olympics, the two ski aces reveal their secret of success.

Munich/Beijing - It's the great love story of this winter sports season: Mikaela Shiffrin and Alexander Aamodt Kilde are the new dream ski couple.

Both dominate the World Cup at will.

At the Olympics in Beijing (from February 4th), the likeable US girl and the daring Norwegian could finally celebrate together.

The gold favorites reveal their shared secret of success.

Shiffrin and Kilde could become the Golden Couple of the Olympics.

It would be the provisional cream of the couple's happy ending – because a year ago the world looked very different.

Olympia 2022: Ski dream couple Shiffrin and Kilde reveal the secret of success

Shiffrin and Kilde had come closer to each other in difficult phases of their lives.

While Kilde's season ended prematurely after a cruciate ligament rupture in January, the two-time Olympic champion was still processing the death of her father in February 2020. The ski racer was plagued by thoughts of a possible end to her career.

Her way out of the mental low also led through Kilde.

"Alex was one of the first people with whom Mika enjoyed talking again," reports mother Eileen in a documentary about her daughter.

"So we were our own sparring partners," said the Scandinavian in an interview with the Swiss portal "blick.ch".

Because Shiffrin also supported him during his injury.

"When something ugly happens, something good often comes out of it." The Norwegian's personal luck is also reflected in his sporting achievements.

With six World Cup successes - two more than Shiffrin - Kilde is already having the most successful season of his career.

"We're making ourselves stronger," the 29-year-old recently justified his current high.

Olympia 2022: Shiffrin and Kilde are among the gold favorites in Beijing

In Beijing, the speed skier, feared for his brutal skiing style, is reaching for Olympic medals for the third time. Kilde's best result so far: 13th place in the Super-G. But the Norwegian is in the form of his life. Their own demands are correspondingly high. The overall World Cup leader Shiffrin is also ambitious in the season highlight.

No wonder, after all, she was able to gain self-confidence after her 73rd World Cup victory in Schladming in mid-January.

It seems only a matter of time before Shiffrin breaks the record set by her compatriot Lindsey Vonn - she is still missing ten successes.

But first the focus is on the Olympics.

"I'm already dreaming of starting in China in every discipline," Shiffrin, who is otherwise at home in the technical area, said in the fall.

There are five individual competitions in China.

An ambitious goal, but feasible for Shiffrin.

Olympia 2022: Shiffrin hopes for kisses from Kilde

When ski superstar Mikaela Shiffrin raced to victory in Sölden in October, friend Aleksander Aamodt Kilde promptly kissed him at the finish line.

It was the only victory so far that the dream couple of the alpine scene - thanks to the racing calendar - celebrated together.

Since then, mutual praise has been exchanged on social media.

"The term extraordinary is still too mild for your performance," Shiffrin recently celebrated her friend's historic Kitzbühel victory on Instagram.

The powerhouse and the most successful ski racer of the present have known each other for around seven years and are among the regular guests on the World Cup podiums.

Shiffrin especially in the slalom, Kilde in the downhill and in the Super-G.

But it only sparked last winter.

"Somehow there has always been something," Kilde revealed in the summer.

Shortly after both made their love public.

And who knows, maybe Shiffrin will soon pick up her second winning kiss.