In this exclusive interview, the double Olympic champion reflects on life after retirement, his role as a mentor, and why a comeback to the sport is off the table.
I still haven’t decided what I want to do when I grow up,” alpine skiing legend Aksel Lund Svindal says with a chuckle.
Six years after retiring from the sport, the 42-year-old Norwegian now dedicates most of his time to his family – his partner, three-time Olympic sprinter Amalie Iuel, and their one-year-old son, Sturm. The rest is divided among sponsor activities, investments – he sits on the board of a few companies – real estate projects, and occasional media work with Norwegian TV.
Skiing, however, remains one of his greatest passions.
“I miss the sport for sure,” Svindal recently told Olympics.com. “I miss the people. I miss the training camps more than the races. If you miss something, it means you have good memories, and that’s a good thing.”
A comeback like Lindsey Vonn’s isn’t on the cards, though.
“It’s a good comparison with Lindsey because we had very similar knee injuries. I’ve talked to her, and she keeps telling me, ‘This knee surgery I got is amazing, you should totally do it.’ But I’m not coming back, even if I think her story, and Marcel Hirscher’s, is great,” he explained.
“That’s not for me. Mentally, I’m in a different stage now. But I still love skiing and try to hit the slopes every weekend if I can. That’s actually why I don’t do much TV commentary – it makes it harder to ski myself.”
Aksel Lund Svindal: Supporting Aleksander Kilde and Norway
The two-time Olympic champion loves following the sport and enjoys staying connected with athletes and coaches. “Nothing official,” he clarified, explaining why coaching isn’t an option for him right now: “I don’t have the ability to travel with them.”
However, supporting his former teammates is something he relishes.
“If younger athletes are struggling—whether it’s with mindset or testing equipment – just having those small conversations makes me feel like I’m still a part of the sport, and that brings me a lot of joy. I want to stay as close as I can without travelling 200 to 250 days a year because that’s something I just can’t do.”
In recent months, Svindal has been mentoring Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, who continues to be sidelined after a horrific crash in Wengen over a year ago.
“Having that relationship with Aleks has been nice for me because I feel like I can contribute in some way. But I think it’s also been good for him to have someone to share thoughts with, someone who understands what he’s going through in a way that not everyone would.”
During his own career, Svindal battled back from a series of severe injuries before retiring in 2019.
“The thing is, bad things happen, and sometimes they hit hard, like they did with Aleks. But there’s a way through it. You just have to be patient and trust the people around you.
“For example, when you’re in the hospital, you have to put your faith in the doctors doing the surgery, because at that point, it’s out of your control. So trust good people and let time heal the wounds.”
Aksel Lund Svindal on Mikaela Shiffrin: It’s all about embracing your fears
Recovering from an injury is a process that also takes a mental toll. Recently, Mikaela Shiffrin opened up about her struggle with PTSD while healing from an abdominal cut that kept her out of competition for two months.
“The fact that she’s able to talk about these things and actually say that, I feel that this is a challenge,” Svindal said. “To me, that’s the signal of how strong she is. And, you know, this is how I think she’s become the most decorated World Cup skier ever. Just the fact that she can be so honest with herself and say, ‘This is a problem, and I will have to deal with it,’ that’s one of her strong sides because there are plenty of athletes who will never admit that.”
Embracing your fears and doubts is the way to move forward in these situations: “Any mental situation that is tough. Instead of pretending like it doesn’t exist, do like Mikaela did, be open about it and then start looking for a solution. I think this is what she will do as well. I’m sure she will take her time to come back. But now that she is honest about this, I’m sure she’ll find a solution. And then boom, she’ll be winning races again.”
Svindal himself went through a similar experience when he returned to Beaver Creek, Colorado, just one year after a crash that left him with many fractures and scars in 2007.
“I was really scared, but I still wanted to try to win the race. I had a hard time because I was scared, and I couldn’t deal with it,” he admitted.
Then he realised that what he was scared of was just a small section of the course, which represented only 10% of the total. “Any problem, if it seems too big, then if you can cut that into multiple problems, each one is actually not that horrible. You can find a solution to this. My solution then was to say that if I do 90% full gas, really try to go for the win, I can take this last 10% a bit more easy and have a bit more margin.”
Svindal: How we can improve safety in alpine skiing
The deep wounds suffered by Shiffrin during the women’s giant slalom event in Killington last November prompted Svindal to share his views on improving safety in the sport.
“If there was anti-cut material in the race suits, she probably wouldn’t have sustained the injury she’s dealing with now,” the five-time world champion stated, also referencing the cases of Kilde and himself from 2007.
“I think downhill skiing is one of the few sports where there’s a high risk. But when it comes to race suits, you never hear anyone discuss them as part of safety equipment. There’s never been a conversation about the race suit being an actual element of safety. To me, that would be the first natural step: examining what can be done to make race suits safer. I believe that could help a lot.”
The Norwegian legend highlighted that the focus shouldn’t be on materials or aggressive setups: “I wouldn’t start blaming individuals because then we risk going down the wrong path. I would much rather see us work together to find the best way to combine speed and safety. Evolution is one of the most important aspects of sport. There should be a framework with some rules, and within those rules, everyone can innovate because that’s how evolution works, similar to what happens in Formula One.”
Svindal on the ‘Odermatt effect’
Svindal has been one of the best all-around skiers of his generation. Recently Swiss star Marco Odermatt overtook him in the all-time list for World Cup career podiums.
Far from being bitter about it, the four-time Olympian openly expressed his admiration for ‘Odi.’
“He is winning a lot, and the way he’s winning is absolutely crazy. So he’s one of the all-time greats, but he’s maybe my number one on my personal ranking. Look at how the Swiss team is performing and what has happened to the Swiss team with Marco as their leading star,” said the PyeongChang 2018 gold medallist.
At the recent World Championships in Saalbach, Switzerland topped the medal table with 13 golds, four of which were won by their men (including Odermat who claimed his first Super-G title). Svindal noted how the whole team celebrated by shaving their heads after winning two medals in the downhill event: “They do everything together. And this effect, I would almost call this the Odermatt effect,” the Norwegian remarked.
Despite being a big star, Svindal explained that Odermatt doesn’t work with a private training group and loves being part of the team: “That’s also why I would put him amongst the best racers in the history of the sport. Yes, his results are amazing, but he also contributes in an incredible way for his teammates so that the whole team has this performance.
“This is the kind of skier I wouldn’t actually want to compete against. I would want to have him on my team because that’s the kind of teammate you want to have.”