Mikaela Shiffrin Gets Through ’Tough Moments’ with Fiancé’s Help After Both Had Crashes That Nearly Derailed Olympic Dreams (Exclusive)

Mikaela Shiffrin is back like she never left!

The decorated skier, 30, is reflecting on the toll a violent crash took on her physically and emotionally last year, telling PEOPLE exclusively that her fiancé Aleksander Aamodt Kilde helped her through those “tough moments” ahead of the 2026 Winter Olympics.

While Shiffrin leaned on the support of her soon-to-be husband after sustaining a life-threatening injury from a ski crash in November 2024, Kilde, 33, was overcoming an injury of his own after a “brutal” crash in Switzerland in January earlier that year.

He underwent surgery and rehabbed his way to recovery for nearly two years before making his official comeback to competitive skiing in late 2025. (The initial rehab was projected to be a few months, but a significant shoulder infection and surgeries prolonged his recovery).

The three-time Olympic medalist opened up about Kilde’s comeback to to the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup circuit in November 2025, telling PEOPLE that she understood the challenges he was facing with physically getting his body back to peak performance, having gone through a similar experience.

“I just got off the phone with him actually,” she says of her fiancé. “He’s racing in Italy right now, and the place that he’s racing is a particularly challenging slope. There’s a jump on that racetrack that’s anywhere between 45 to 55 meters long, like you’re jumping half of a football field.”

“He’s learning how to move his body again with probably 50% of the shoulder function that everybody else has. So he had a tough day today, but he made it to the finish,” Shiffrin continues of his race during the 2025/2026 Audi FIS Ski World Cup.

“At the end, I was like, ‘Wait, you’re more concerned right now because you are a second and a half off of the fastest time? You’re competing with guys who are at their very top level… And you’re a second and a half off… That’s the last thing you should be worried about.’ ”

Shiffrin spoke highly about her connection with Kilde and their ability to relate about the highs and lows of the sport. Ultimately, she said they’ve helped each other overcome their respective hardships and push towards success.

Kilde is a decorated skier himself, and a three-time Olympic athlete for Norway. He competed in Sochi 2014, PyeongChang 2018 and Beijing 2022, where he won silver in Alpine Combined and bronze in Super-G in Beijing. 

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Shiffrin, who also looks to defend her medals for Team USA at the 2026 Winter Olympics when the Games begin in February, recalled to PEOPLE exclusively in April 2025 that she and Kilde were “in survival mode” together after their crashes.

“We both have been in survival mode for the last year and a half,” she said of both her and her fiancé in the wake of their respective accidents, emphasizing, “Total survival mode.”

Shiffrin’s injury at the Stifel Killington Cup in Vermont last November meant that she and Kilde were both at home for once, but because she “wasn’t moving,” they struggled to enjoy their time.

“I didn’t want to be touched. It was painful to do everything,” recalled Shiffrin, who needed surgery to treat a puncture wound in her abdomen after she hit a gate and was “stabbed” by a sharp object during the fall.

“It was like coughing, sneezing and laughing hurt,” Shiffrin said.

Still, Shiffrin and Kilde were able to bond amid their pain.

“I know that feeling,” she tells PEOPLE of what her fiancé was experiencing. “It’s being able to relate to each other and help each other through those tough moments. He does that for me on a daily basis. It’s pretty special.”

To learn more about all the Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls, come to people.com to check out ongoing coverage before, during and after the games. Watch the Milan-Cortina Olympics and Paralympics, beginning Feb. 6, on NBC and Peacock.