Legendary skier, Mikaela Shiffrin congratulated her boyfriend Aleksander Kilde after his wonderful run at the recent Alpine Ski World Cup championship. The 31-year-old bagged the silver medal at the Val Gardena downhill on December 14.
On Thursday (December 14), Aleksander Kilde attempted to win his fourth downhill World Cup. He initially had a strong command at the Saslong Piste in Val Gardena but was disrupted by American skier Bryce Bennett.
His first-place finish timing was one minute 23.80 seconds, leaving Kilde behind by just three seconds. Switzerland’s Marco Odermatt came third with a timing of 5 seconds.
Girlfriend Mikaela Shiffrin was extremely happy with her boyfriend’s performance. She took his victory news on her Instagram story and wrote:
“Just out here doing King Things.”
Mikaela Shiffrin and Aleksander Kilde first met in 2015. However, it was not until 2021 that the couple began dating. In an interview with Reuters, Shiffrin shared her first impression of Kilde and said:
"We met somewhere around seven years ago and I think he started the conversation by saying, ‘Hi.’ He also sent the first friend request. He technically asked me on a date later that year but I sort of denied him. I thought I was being cute but he seems to have taken it as a rejection."
The couple remained friends for some time before things took a romantic turn in 2020. Kilde reached out to Shiffrin with a supportive message on her father’s death. From there, the couple never stopped chatting and eventually began dating in 2021.
Aleksander Kilde talks about his relationship with Mikaela Shiffrin
During a recent interview with Olympics.com, Aleksander Kilde spoke about how the couple manage their public and private lives at a time when everyone wants to know what they are up to. He said:
"It's been a little bit round edges and not taking yourself too seriously. To give space for your partner and also other human beings is something I've experienced as being really cool and a great way of living. That's how we also do our relationship, is that we are just authentic and we don't need to hide anything and there's nothing to hide."
Kilde went on to state being celebrities hardly interferes with their lives as they do get their private time together.