Under promising conditions, ski superstar Aksel Lund Svindal will tackle the coming season. Although the knee still needs special treatment, it withstood all stresses and strains during training. Last week in Saas-Fee, the Norwegian even stood on the crossbars for seven days in a row, which he hadn’t managed in three years.
For the first time in three years, Svindal finished a season this spring. In October 2014 he had torn his Achilles tendon during a fun football game and lost a year. In 2016 he won the Super-G in Kitzbühel in January, the next day he fell in the downhill, his front cruciate ligament and meniscus tore in his right knee. In 2017 he stopped the season in Wengen because of another knee operation.
He had to take back again and again last winter in training, but still won downhill gold at the Olympic Games in Pyeongchang. Because a quick decision about his future in sport would have been negative, he took his time after the World Cup final in Aare, explained Svindal. “Better drive a little further and see if the moment comes when you know exactly. I want to know one hundred percent that this is the right decision.” That this will be his last season is therefore not certain.
In March, Svindal looked back on the past six months and said that the knee had been as swollen as after an operation. “I could only cycle for two months, then went back to strength training and then I thought to myself that this could be something again”, the two-time Olympic champion, five-time world champion and two-time overall World Cup winner told his ski company Head in Sölden on Thursday at a media event.
He will not run the giant slalom on Sunday on the Rettenbach glacier, his concentration is on the speed disciplines. “I plan all winter, that’s plan A. But there’s also plans B and C. It’s about how the knee’s doing,” Svindal said.
“Last year, I went to the limit or maybe even over the limit. I think I’ll have to be a little more careful this year. It was Olympia last year, so logically you push there. I paid for it in the spring. But I can’t push that much every year. A little headstrong, then.” Before every race it is mandatory to pedal on the bike ergometer to warm up the knee for the load in the best possible way.
After all these years and many successes, Svindal hasn’t had enough yet, but is approaching things more “relaxed”. “It’s also fun when you’re at the start and know you’re really well prepared. And you tell yourself that if Kjetil Jansrud or Matthias Mayer finish and have driven well, that you are also so good, you have trained well and can win. The adrenaline you get and the power you get while riding is still a lot of fun”.
In the overall World Cup he is again betting on the duel between Marcel Hirscher and Norway. “And from Norway I believe that the strongest opponent will be Henrik Kristoffersen. He needs to get a little more consistency into the giant slalom. And I’ve also seen him train a little speed. I hope it’ll be exciting. It’s something special when the final is about the big ball. For sport, it’s cooler than when it’s decided before.”