Aleksander Aamodt Kilde: Why Mikaela Shiffrin and I are so 'open' about our relationship
An exclusive chat with the Norwegian speedster on meeting Tom Cruise, performing consistently at high level and being a leader. The two-time Olympic medallist also shares how it feels visiting the US with his girlfriend: "I'll always be the 'plus one' when I’m around Mikaela…"
Alpine Skiing
For the last two seasons, Aleksander Aamodt Kilde and Mikaela Shiffrin have been the ‘power couple’ of alpine skiing.
The duo supported each other throughout the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games and, after a successful season (two Olympic medals and two small globes for the Norwegian, a fourth overall World Cup title for the American), they shared a summer full of highlights, well documented on social media: from attending the Formula 1 GP in Silverstone and the glamorous ESPY awards to paddling and getting sunburned together in Maui, Hawaii.
“When it comes to experiences Silverstone was one of my favourite ones, for sure,” said Kilde, who spoke exclusively to Olympics.com during a media event organised by his sponsor Atomic in October.
“I had so much fun being at the Formula One event, meeting incredible people, but also seeing the interest around Formula One and the sport in general. I also shook Tom Cruise's hand, he's the last cinema star we have, that was also incredible.”
In July, for the second consecutive year the 30-year-old accompanied his girlfriend to the red carpet of the ESPYs, the traditional annual event organised in the States to celebrate athletes and their achievements. “There is a war going on, we have COVID, we have climate change, there's so much negative stuff going on. But sport is giving so much positive vibes to the person sitting home watching or on site watching,” he reflected.
“So knowing that we have sports that can give us some kind of motivation in life…I think Formula One is a good example. And also skiing, with the fans back again. It just gives such a joy to the world. And I mean, without it (sport), what would we do?”
Kilde and Shiffrin: Controlling the narrative
Kilde admits that dealing with increased popularity is something new for him: "There is a lot of interest for sure, but it's hard for me too, because I've kind of experienced a change," he said.
"I am really thankful that people are interested in what I do and then like the way I kind of represent our sport."
But if the Norwegian speedster is a big celebrity at home, in the US the situation is a bit different: “They recognise Mikaela and I'm just her boyfriend. So I'll always be the 'plus one' when I'm around Mikaela, you know, it's a different story in the States for sure. If you don't play basketball, they don't really care about you! (laughs)"
His relationship with Shiffrin, one of the most successful skiers in history, has been under the public eye since the beginning.
“We are having good conversations and we are there for each other. We support each other on good days and bad days like couples do, like partners do for each other. We're not any different,” said the 2020 overall World Cup winner.
"The only difference is that we are public people and people are watching a little bit more what we're doing or not. So we are quite open about it because we don't get too many questions about how things are running and how things are, because you see it right away and we can control it 100 per cent ourselves. We don't need to be scared about rumours, about things we don't want to get out there as we can control 100 per cent of them. That's for both of us really, really nice, actually.”
Kilde: The secret of my consistency
The first part of Kilde’s career saw the Norwegian achieve mixed results: from 2015 to 2019 he had 11 World Cup podium finishes including three wins, and no medals at major championships.
In the last three seasons, he has started to deliver more regularly and effectively: seven podiums and one win saw him take the World Cup overall title in 2019/20 before injury cut short his next campaign in January after claiming two race wins.
In 2021/2022, Kilde became the master of consistency by reaching nine podiums in World Cup with seven wins and two second places. His performances weren’t as clinical at Beijing 2022 but he still managed to come away with a bronze in Super G and a surprise silver in combined.
His fifth place in downhill was also an improvement on his results in Sochi and PyeongChang, when he failed to finish in the top-10 in any discipline.
"They usually say that, within speed especially, with experience, you will also gain more results, good results,” he explained.
"And that's a little bit obvious in my situation because it's been ups and downs and it's been really good ones and really bad ones for some years. And the last three years has been really stable up there. And I've been able to actually ski the way I want and to deliver the kind of level I have.
“Before when I was a little bit unexperienced, I kind of knew my level, but I never got to show it because I made mistakes and I did just rookie mistakes all the time. And that took a while to understand that, 'Okay, I need to just calm down and trust in my confidence.' And this is what kind of has been there the last couple of years and also something I have to keep in mind for the next coming seasons.”
The three-time small globe winner has always been at the forefront of innovation in his sport, from using GPS tracking devices to analyse his performances, to developing materials.
“Knowledge is power. And knowledge within skiing is definitely power because you need to know what to do and when. And preparation is always one of the key points,” he said.
“We have a GPS system that can show us how we're doing things in different parts of the track. And I really like to stand on the start and know what I'm supposed to do, have a good game plan and try to execute it.
“Of course, sometimes it doesn't go as planned and you mess up with the wrong line or you go too aggressive or you just got to try sometimes, but usually with experience, that's what I've gained the last few years, I know that if I just follow my line, I'm going to be fast. And being in that position is unique, of course, and it's not always that easy to find that kind of balance. But lately it's been working well, so crossing my fingers for it to happen this season as well!"
Kilde on the value of knowledge to fight climate change
Kilde is not interested just in technology applied to skiing. He strongly believes knowledge can have an impact on bigger issues such as climate change.
“It's not much what I can do as a skier. I have to kind of do my job like a lot of others,” he explained.
“And I just learnt that we can change to electric cars, we can do things and bits and pieces, but that's only going to be 4 per cent of the whole kind of change. So we need to look at it in a little bit different way.”
“I just wanted to gain more knowledge about the environmental change. And also because I've seen it with my own eyes that the glaciers are melting, the fields are getting drier, and this is going to have an impact in our sport. And I want my kids to be able to ski as well and my grandkids and so on.
The focus, for the Norwegian, should be on how to use technology to make agriculture and farming more efficient and reduce waste by limiting the use of pesticides, for example.
“So for me, it's important to try to gain a little more knowledge and use the voice I have to gain also attention and interest into the subject when it comes to bigger parts like agriculture, food production and stuff. We got to look at it in the ways we got to do it more efficiently. And this is what I learnt.
“So it's really interesting and I talked to the right people and it was so much fun to gain that knowledge because it's so much going on in the world and there's so many clever people that are trying to make a change. So that's what I wanted to do. Like I want to spread the word. I want to make as many people getting to know what kind of work is been being done and what we need to actually act on right now, what we need to tackle.”
Kilde: From apprentice to leader
For years, Kilde looked up to his more experienced 'Attacking Viking' teammates Aksel Lund Svindal and Kjetil Jansrud, who wrote the history of Norwegian skiing over the last decade.
With Jansrud retiring last season, the Baerum native has taken up the role of leader of a team featuring several young talents including Lucas Braathen and Atle Lie McGrath.
“Being a part of a team for so many years, looking at Svindal and Jansrud for so many years, I also gained a lot of knowledge about how to handle and tackle such different situations," he revealed.
“But for me, being a leader is something you are from before, it's something you don't get to work on. You got to have the passion.
“I am now 30 years old, I have won some races. I have good experience. So hopefully the younger boys are looking at a little bit what I did because that's what I did with Axel and Kjetil. I think that's smart of them to do and I want to be a good role model for them. And they are, of course, digging their own path. But for me, I think it's really cool to be in that position and it comes a little bit natural after getting all the experience I've done in the last years.”
