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Dutiful celebration of the career and the palmares of Aksel Lund Svindal, one of the most successful skiers of all time.
Saturday 9 February 2019 8 minutes reading time
Born December 26, 1982 in Lorenskog and native of Kjeller, Akershus County, about 25 km from the Norwegian capital Oslo, Aksel Lund Svindal participates in the first FIS races at 16, coincidentally in Are, in 1999, in the European Cup debuted on 29 November 2000 in giant at Levi, in the continental circuit he won 5 races, all in the 2002-2003 season, finishing third in the general and first, hearing, in slalom. He has participated in three editions of the Junior World Championships, in the last one, that of 2002 in Tarvisio and Sella Nevea, is gold in combined, silver in super-G and bronze downhill and slalom.
On December 20th of the same year he was sixth in the super-G in Val Gardena, the first of his 181 placements in the top ten in the World Cup, where he made his debut on October 28th 2001 in the giant of Soelden. His first podium is dated January 26, 2003, second combined with Kitzbuehel, while for his first victory he has to wait until 27 November 2005 in the super-G of Lake Louise, where he will win 8 races total, 2 descents and 6 super-G. Needless to say, as well as being a great multipurpose in the youth years which then turned into a sprinter, Svindal was one of the greatest skiers in history and by far the most successful among the Norwegians.
He took home two General World Cups in 2007 and 2009 finishing second in the final standings in 2006, 2013 and 2014 and third in 2012 and 2018, and in the bulletin board also has 2 descent trophies (2013 and 2014), 5 of superG (2006, 2009, 2012, 2013 and 2014) and one of giant and combined both in 2007, for a total of 11 absolute or specialty crystal balls. He has won 36 World Cup races (seventh-ever plurivictor of ex-aequo with Benjamin Raich), 14 descents, 17 super-G (second ever after Hermann Maier, 4 giants and 1 combined, while his total podiums in the Cup are 80.
He has participated in seven editions of the World Championships winning the silver in combined with Bormio 2005, the downhill and giant gold at Are 2007, the gold in combined and the bronze in super-G in Val d'sere 2009, the gold in combined in Garmisch-Partenkirchen 2011 and the gold (the fifth!) downhill and the bronze in super-G at Schladdming 2013. Also at the Olympics he won medals especially in Vancouver 2010, where he was gold in super-G, silver downhill and the bronze in giant, while at PyeongChang 2018 won the long-awaited gold to five downhill circles.
But Aksel's career was full of serious injuries. The most frightening is that of November 27, 2007 when, at the height of his career, in the first trial of Beaver Creek he fell disastrously from the jump of the Golden Eagle landing on his back and head, at the hospital he was diagnosed with facial fractures and a tear of 15 centimeters between groin and abdominal area. The following season he returned and won the crystal ball again, but never again reached the levels of domination over the rest of the world he had before the accident.
The breaking of the Achilles tendon in October 2014 forced him to compete only in the World Championships in Vail / Beaver Creek, where he was sixth both downhill and in super-G. Finally on January 23, 2016, the day after winning his seventh race of the season in the super-G, in the descent of Kitzbuehel to the Hausbergkante shattered his right knee, which since then has never ceased to give him problems and that forced him to sip the his commitments and above all to skip almost the whole season 2016-2017, despite this he still won 4 races of the World Cup, but above all the aforementioned Olympic gold downhill.
This winter he managed to win his seventh race in Val Gardena, the fifth in the super-G in addition to two descents, this victory was also his last podium in the Cup, event in which he played his 386th and last race, the descent of Wengen, in which it was placed fourth. The following weekend he was forced to skip Kitzbuehel and finally give up his dream of winning the downhill on Streif. Now we will see how the races on his farewell stage will go, those of the World of Are, the place that 12 years ago consecrated him as the strongest skier in the world. Despite being one of the most attractive athletes (at least to feel the women) of Circo Bianco has never given rise to gossip stories but for a few years he was engaged by the American colleague Julia Mancuso. Good life Aksel, we will miss you.
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