Norwegian ski star Aleksander Aamodt Kilde will miss the entire 2024-25 season because his injured left shoulder requires surgery again, nine months after he crashed badly in a downhill in Switzerland.
“I now need another surgery to fully fix the shoulder. This unfortunately means I won’t be competing this winter,” Kilde said in a statement from the Norwegian ski federation Wednesday.
The 32-year-old Kilde, a two-time Olympic medalist who has won 21 World Cup races and took the 2019-20 overall title, had surgery to repair a severe cut and nerve damage in his right calf, plus two torn ligaments in his shoulder, after a terrifying crash near the finish of a downhill in Wengen in January.
Kilde went back on skis in June, but his recovery suffered a setback the following month due to an infection in his shoulder "that caused some complications,” he said.
“There was a big infection in my shoulder that had gone pretty far and I needed to undergo surgery for that,” Kilde said in a video on his Instagram account.
“It was mentally tough, not just because it then takes longer for me to go back skiing,," he said, "but also I was asking myself: ‘Am I going to be able to really use my shoulder ever again?’"
Currently, he added, "two of the muscles are still not attached at this moment, which means I need to do another surgery and reconstruct everything again.”
Kilde was among a slew of World Cup, Olympic and world champions to crash hard in a packed mid-season program, including his fiancée Mikaela Shiffrin.
The American hurt her left knee following a crash on the 2026 Olympic downhill course in Cortina d'Ampezzo, though the World Cup record holder and two-time Olympic champion returned to racing six weeks later.
“We can be going through completely different experiences, and still be able to actually support each other,” Shiffrin said in an online media call Wednesday. “This season, we are going to take it all as it comes, because we can do that with each other.”
The Norwegian ski team's doctor, Trond Floberghagen, expected Kilde to return racing in the 2025-26 Olympic season.
“Unfortunately, neither the medical situation nor the timeline is compatible with an active season this winter,” Floberghagen said.
“After a challenging injury break, Aleksander is now well-prepared and motivated for a new rehabilitation process, and we expect him to be back at the starting line next season.”
Kilde added: "I’m fully committed to my rehab and working towards a strong comeback.”
Many racers commented to Kilde's video on Instagram with messages of encouragement.
Three-time overall World Cup champion Marco Odermatt wrote, “we need you, keep going." American great Lindsey Vonn said, “One more surgery, keep fighting! You’ll be back” and Olympic slalom champion Clement Noel posted, “Keep fighting Aleks!"
The World Cup season starts this weekend with two giant slaloms in Soelden, Austria, with the women racing on Saturday and the men the following day.
The season also includes the world championships in Austria in February.
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AP skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/alpine-skiing
Eric Willemsen, The Associated Press
