Few comebacks in ski racing history have felt as emotional as Aleksander Aamodt Kilde’s return to the World Cup circuit.

It came nearly two years after his horrific crash during the World Cup downhill race in Wengen, Switzerland, on Jan. 13, 2024.

During the crash, Kilde suffered a dislocated shoulder, two torn shoulder ligaments and a major laceration on his calf that required urgent surgery due to nerve damage. 

Before the injury, Kilde had built a decorated career for himself. He has earned 21 World Cup victories since his debut at Sölden in 2012. He went to his first Olympic Games in Sochi 2014, where he landed 13th in the Super G but did not finish in the Downhill and Super Combined races.

In PyeongChang in 2018, he landed 13th in the Super G, 15th in the Downhill, 21st in the Alpine Combined and fell in the Giant Slalom. He received his first two Olympic medals in Beijing in 2022, earning bronze in the Super G and silver in the Alpine Combined. 

Given his past results and growth throughout the Olympic Games, he had a chance to excel for the rest of his career. However, this injury posed a major setback — one he will have to fully recover from in order to recreate his previous success in the sport. His injury wasn’t just severe,  it was the kind of injury that would have ended most skiers’ careers.

Kilde’s crash sent him sliding into the netting at 120 kilometers per hour. He passed out, waking up shortly after in immense pain.

He continued floating in and out of consciousness, trying to focus on his breathing and staying alert. He was rushed to the hospital for treatment. He later posted photos of his gruesome injuries on Instagram, shocking his fans with the intensity of damage he suffered. 

His then-girlfriend, now fiancée — decorated ski racer Mikaela Shiffrin — rushed to the hospital and was with him when he woke up from surgery.

Following the surgery on his shoulder and a short return to snow training, Kilde revealed he had contracted sepsis in June 2024 during his recovery. . He described this infection as “a matter of life and death” and was forced to undergo another surgery to remove the infection. 

After the operation, he was required to spend seven weeks in a wheelchair, further delaying his recovery.

In late August, Kilde revealed in another Instagram post that he had returned to the hospital as the infection returned even after three weeks of antibiotic treatment. In the post, he called the recovery process “a never-ending story.”

In Feb. 2025, he underwent another surgery to reconstruct his shoulder. 

That August, he began on-snow training again.

Finally, after nearly two years of copious recovery battles, Kilde made his comeback in the Super G World Cup race at Copper Mountain, Colorado, on Nov. 27.

It was unclear whether he would ever return to this point — yet he proved everyone wrong. Kilde skied with ambition and drive, pushing down the slope with everything he had. Shiffrin was there supporting him again, in tears as her fiancé crossed the finish line. 

This return race was not about winning for him — it was about getting back on skis and getting back to competition on the snow. 

Following the intense injury Kilde underwent, it is likely that not only physical, but also mental blocks got in the way. PTSD is very common after serious injuries, and it remains to be seen whether this will hold him back as he continues his career. 

Kilde finished 24th, tied with Kyle Negomir of the United States. This placement proved that his performance won’t be reduced by his crash.

The ski-racing community continues to look forward to what else he will do in the future and hopes to see him compete in the 2026 Milan Winter Olympic Games.