Aksel Lund Svindal

Aksel Lund Svindal (born 26 December 1982) is a Norwegian former World Cup alpine ski racer.

Aksel Lund Svindal
Alpine skier
Svindal in February 2011
DisciplinesDownhill, Super-G,
Giant slalom, Combined
ClubNero Alpin
Born (1982-12-26) 26 December 1982
Height189 cm (6 ft 2 in)
World Cup debut28 October 2001 (age 18)
Retired9 February 2019 (age 36)
Websiteaksellundsvindal.com
Olympics
Teams4 – (2006, 2010, 2014, 2018)
Medals4 (2 gold)
World Championships
Teams8 – (200315, 2019)
Medals9 (5 gold)
World Cup
Seasons17 – (2002–14, 2016–19)
Wins36
Podiums80
Overall titles2 – (2007, 2009)
Discipline titles9 – (2 DH, 5 SG, 1 GS, 1 K)

Born in Lørenskog in Akershus county, Svindal is a two-time overall World Cup champion (2007 and 2009), an Olympic gold medalist in super-G at the 2010 Winter Olympics and in downhill at the 2018 Winter Olympics, and a five-time World Champion in downhill, giant slalom, and super combined (2007 Åre, 2009 Val-d'Isère, 2011 Garmisch, and 2013 Schladming). With his victory in the downhill in 2013, Svindal became the first male alpine racer to win titles in four consecutive world championships.[1]

With his successes many consider him the best Norwegian alpine skier ever. While the great Kjetil Andre Aamodt has been more successful at the Olympics, Svindal is by far the most successful on the World Cup circuit.

In late-January 2019, he announced his retirement from alpine skiing following the 2019 Ski World Championships.[2]

Career

During his career, Svindal won nine World Championship medals, four Olympic medals, two overall World Cup and nine discipline titles (in downhill, super-G, giant slalom, and combined), and 36 World Cup races. Additionally, he won four medals at the World Junior Championships in 2002, including gold in combined.

On 27 November 2007, during the first training run for the Birds of Prey downhill race in Beaver Creek, Colorado, Svindal crashed badly after landing a jump. He somersaulted into a safety fence and was taken to Vail Valley Medical Center with broken bones in his face and a six-inch (15 cm) laceration to his groin and abdominal area. Svindal missed the remainder of the 2008 season, and returned to World Cup racing in October 2008. His first two victories following his return were a downhill and a super-G in Beaver Creek, on the same Birds of Prey course where he was injured the year before.[3]

Svindal's silver medal downhill run at the 2010 Olympics at Whistler

At the 2009 World Championships, Svindal won the gold in the super combined. Completing his comeback during the 2009 season, Svindal won his second overall World Cup over Benjamin Raich of Austria. Entering the last race of the season, a slalom at the World Cup finals in Åre, Sweden, Svindal led Raich by just two points. They had won the two previous races (a downhill and giant slalom respectively), with Svindal leading but Raich was the favourite as a specialist in slalom. Both skiers went off course and did not finish the slalom, so the Norwegian became the overall World Cup winner.[4] He also won his fourth discipline title, his second in super G.

At the 2010 Winter Olympics on 15 February, Svindal won the silver medal in the downhill competition in Whistler, 0.07 seconds behind the winner, Didier Défago of Switzerland, and 0.02 seconds ahead of bronze medalist Bode Miller of the United States. Svindal's medal was Norway's hundredth silver medal at the Winter Olympics, the most for any nation.

Four days later on 19 February, Svindal won the super-G, his first-ever Olympic gold medal – ahead of Miller (+ 0.28 seconds) and Andrew Weibrecht (+ 0.31 seconds), both of the U.S.

Svindal successfully defended his world title in the super combined in 2011 at Garmish-Partenkirchen, Germany.[5]

After an Achilles tendon injury in October 2014,[6] Svindal did not compete in World Cup events during the 2015 season. He did enter the World Championships in Colorado in February,[6] and placed sixth in both the downhill and super-G events.

After his season long injury, Svindal had a very strong start to the 2016 season. He managed seven world cup victories before he sustained a season-ending knee injury under tough conditions in Kitzbühel, Austria.[7]

After a fairly good start to the 2016–2017 season including 1 World Cup win, for the third straight season he suffered a season ending/interrupting injury, and this time missed both the majority of the World Cup season and the 2017 World Alpine Ski Championships.

He won another Olympic Gold in the downhill event at the 2018 Winter Olympics, becoming the oldest ever Alpine skiing gold medallist.

In his final race, the downhill at the 2019 World Alpine Ski Championships in Åre in February of that year, Svindal finished second in a Norwegian one-two, being pipped to the gold by team-mate Kjetil Jansrud by a margin of two hundredths of a second.[8]

Personal life

Svindal dated alpine racer Julia Mancuso of the U.S. for three years, until the couple split up in September 2013.

In his spare time he devotes himself to freeskiing and has already appeared in several freeskiing film documentaries.[9]

One of his best friends is his teammate Kjetil Jansrud.

World Cup results

Season titles

11 titles: (2 overall, 2 Downhill, 5 Super-G, 1 Giant slalom, 1 Combined)

SeasonDiscipline
2006Super-G
2007Overall
Giant slalom
Combined
2009Overall
Super-G
2012Super-G
2013Downhill
Super-G
2014Downhill
Super-G

Season standings

SeasonAgeOverallSlalomGiant
slalom
Super-GDownhillCombined
20032039382623584
20042119411915366
2005222137171130
200623213101137
2007241211571
2008254050192245
200926151411
201027454837
201128459216105
201229311165
2013302477115
2014312161112
201532injured: did not compete
201633527329
201734351815
201835332
201936717
Standings through 20 January 2019

Race victories

36 wins – (14 DH, 17 SG, 4 GS, 1 SC)

SeasonDateLocationDiscipline
2006 27 November 2005 Lake Louise, CanadaSuper-G
15 March 2006 Åre, SwedenDownhill
200730 November 2006 Beaver Creek, USASuper combined
21 December 2006 Hinterstoder, AustriaGiant slalom
14 March 2007   Lenzerheide, SwitzerlandDownhill
15 March 2007Super-G
17 March 2007Giant slalom
200828 October 2007 Sölden, AustriaGiant slalom
25 November 2007 Lake Louise, CanadaSuper-G
20095 December 2008 Beaver Creek, USADownhill
6 December 2008Super-G
11 March 2009 Åre, SwedenDownhill
201018 December 2009 Val Gardena, ItalySuper-G
20118 January 2011   Adelboden, SwitzerlandGiant slalom
201227 November 2011 Lake Louise, CanadaSuper-G
14 March 2012 Schladming, AustriaDownhill
201324 November 2012 Lake Louise, CanadaDownhill
25 November 2012Super-G
14 December 2012 Val Gardena, ItalySuper-G
25 January 2013 Kitzbühel, AustriaSuper-G
3 March 2013 Kvitfjell, NorwaySuper-G
2014 1 December 2013 Lake Louise, CanadaSuper-G
6 December 2013 Beaver Creek, USADownhill
20 December 2013 Val Gardena, ItalySuper-G
29 December 2013 Bormio, ItalyDownhill
2016 28 November 2015 Lake Louise, CanadaDownhill
29 November 2015Super-G
4 December 2015 Beaver Creek, USADownhill
18 December 2015 Val Gardena, ItalySuper-G
19 December 2015Downhill
16 January 2016   Wengen, SwitzerlandDownhill
22 January 2016 Kitzbühel, AustriaSuper-G
2018 2 December 2017 Beaver Creek, USADownhill
16 December 2017 Val Gardena, ItalyDownhill
19 January 2018 Kitzbühel, AustriaSuper-G
2019 14 December 2018 Val Gardena, Italy Super-G

World Championship results

  Year   Age  Slalom  Giant 
 slalom 
Super-GDownhillCombined
2003205DNF22
200522126772
200724DNF111315
20092693111
2011284DNF51
201330431DNF2
20153266
201734did not compete
201936162

Olympic results

  Year   Age  Slalom  Giant 
 slalom 
Super-GDownhillCombined
200623DNF26521DNF SL1
201027312DNF2
201431748
20183551DNS2

References

  1. "Svindal spectacular in winning World DH title". Ski Racing.com. 9 February 2013.
  2. "Aksel Lund Svindal announces retirement". Newsbeezer. 26 January 2019. Retrieved 27 January 2019.
  3. "COMPETITORS HAVING MORE THAN ONE PODIUM". fis-ski.com. Archived from the original on 4 February 2018. Retrieved 5 February 2018.
  4. www.gazzetta.it Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine – 14 March 2009
  5. Ski Racing.com Archived 10 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine – Svindal defends super combi gold at Worlds – 14 February 2011
  6. McMillan, Kelley (3 February 2015). "Aksel Lund Svindal set to compete at Alpine Championships". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 November 2015.
  7. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 28 March 2016. Retrieved 12 January 2016.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) – Aksel Lund Svindal out for season after World Cup crash – 24 January 2016
  8. "Aksel Lund Svindal beaten by teammate Kjetil Jansrud in his final race". ESPN.com. 14 February 2019. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
  9. "The Evolution of a Freeskier - Aksel Lund Svindal". 23 December 2019. Retrieved 18 January 2020.

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