After serious injury
Ski star reveals panic attacks: “Wake up in the middle of the night”
November 2, 2025 – 7:13 a.mReading time: 2 minutes
Aleksander Aamodt Kilde has been fighting for his sporting future for two years. This comes with some challenges.
Ski racer Aleksander Aamodt Kilde is still struggling with the consequences of his serious fall in Wengen two years ago. He is currently suffering primarily psychologically. In the podcast “What’s the Point”, which he co-hosts with his fiancée Mikaela Shiffrin, he spoke openly about the panic attacks that have plagued him repeatedly since his sepsis.
“I wake up in the middle of the night and think: ‘Oh, sh…, the infection is back,'” said the 33-year-old. After several shoulder operations, Kilde developed an infection that could have led to life-threatening blood poisoning. A year ago, the Norwegian said in an interview with the “Standard” that he was “shocked by the extent” of the injuries.
Even though the wounds have now healed, the fear remains to this day, as he revealed in the podcast with his fiancée: “I think about it every day since the last operation. It feels like the infection is nudging me in the side and saying: ‘Hello, I’m still here.'”
That’s why he can’t work completely carefree during training. Even harmless body reactions worried him. “Sometimes fluid gets into the shoulder. That’s actually normal in rehab, but I immediately think it’s another infection,” says Kilde.
Kilde is supported by Shiffrin during this time. The American said at the start of the World Cup in Sölden that her fiancé still has restrictions on his shoulder, “which he will probably have for the rest of his life.”