Aksel Lund Svindal

Aksel Lund Svindal had already been a champion in the junior category before becoming World Champion in Combined in 2002 in Italy. That same year, he also won the silver medal in Super-G and the bronze medals in Downhill and Slalom. He began his promising and professional career when he won the Trophy of the most promising skier of the day at Alta Badia in Giant Slalom. At the end of the 2003 season, he finished second in Combined at Kitzbühel, only half a second behind the winner Michael Walchhofer. Svindal scored more than forty top-10 rankings in all disciplines on the World Cup. At the end of the 2006 season, his 2nd place in the general ranking confirmed his great potential. Aksel Lund Svindal was the first Norwegian in history to receive a gold medal in Downhill at World Championships. He did so in Åre in 2007. He also won the Giant Slalom race at the same event; he is only the fourth male skier in history to reach this level of performance. Number one in the 2007 general ranking of the World Cup, he continues to surpass his previous achievements. His success story is undeniably an extraordinary one. He was one of the most expected skiers in the beginning of the season 2007-2008. Unfortunately, he got very badly injured after a fall at the downhill race in Beaver Creek. He was unable to get back into the circuit for the rest of the season. Aksel was able to recover after a long rehabilitation and focused on his preparation in order to be ready to start the 2008-2009 season in good shape. He managed to keep constant good results throughout the season, starting with a gold medal on the same race where he had crashed the previous year. His complete season was a success as he won a couple medals at the World Championships in Val d’Isère and finished with 2 Cristal Globes in Åre, including the most important one, the Overall.

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