Mikaela Shiffrin and Aleksander Aamodt Kilde have been the dream couple in alpine skiing for some time. Kilde’s biggest challenger, Marco Odermatt, has now revealed that he too had his eye on the American ski racer.
“At the beginning of my World Cup career, I had a bit of a crush on Mikaela,” said Odermatt in an interview with the newspaper “View” to.
However, the Swiss emphasized: “But we never got to know each other really well, we only had a short conversation once at a World Cup final.”
Kilde, who was also present as an interview guest, reacted to the Odermatt statements with a smile and said: “The fact that I was able to win over Mikaela is my greatest victory.”
Odermatt and Kilde get along great anyway – despite all the sporting rivalry. “It’s not a show, Aleksander and I really have a very good time together,” the Swiss clarified and added: “Everyone likes the other’s success from the bottom of their hearts, even if we haven’t spent much time together privately.”
The Norwegian Kilde also raved about his opponent. “I really like Marco,” said the 30-year-old: “The fact that we’ve never had a really great party together is only because something like that wasn’t possible in the last few winters because of the pandemic. But now it’s time that we can make up for it.”
Shiffrin reveals her love secret
Shiffrin revealed how she and Kilde met in October.
“We met in Chile eight years ago and were then sometimes in contact via Facebook, Instagram and social media,” she explained in an interview with “Servus TV”.
In December 2020, she then received several messages from the Norwegian in which he comforted her after her father’s death. He had previously died in February at the age of 65 after falling off the roof while doing craft work on the family home.
Kilde was “really the only person who sent me a message that I thought I wanted to write back,” said the 27-year-old: “That was the beginning.”