Aksel Lund Svindal (Lørenskog, December 26, 1982) is a Norwegian alpine ski racer an Olympic gold medalist in Super-G at the Vancouver 2010 and in Downhill at the Pyeongchang 2018 Olympic Winter Games, and a five-time World Champion in Downhill, Giant Slalom, and Super-Combined (2007 Åre, 2009 Val-d'Isère, 2011 Garmisch, and 2013 Schladming). With his victory in the Downhill in 2013, Svindal became the first male alpine racer to win titles in four consecutive world championships.
A two-time Overall World Cup champion (2007, and 2009), he has won nine World Cup discipline titles in Downhill, Super-G, Giant Slalom, and Combined), and 36 World Cup races.
Svindal won nine World Championship medals: Gold (Åre 2007, Downhill and Giant Slalom, Val-d’Isère 2009 Combined, Garmisch-Partenkirchen 2011 Combined, Schladming 2013 Downhill), Silver (Bormio 2005 Combined, Åre 2019 Downhill) and Bronze (Val-d’Isère 2009 Super-G, Schladming 2013 Super-G).
He won his first medal at the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 2005 held in Bormio, a silver medal in the Combined.
At the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships held in 2007 in Åre, Svindal won two gold medals in the Downhill and the Giant Slalom.
On 27 November 2007, during the first Downhill training run in the Birds of Prey racecourse in Beaver Creek, Colorado, Svindal crashed badly after landing a jump. He missed the rest of the 2008 season. At the 2009 Alpine World Ski Championships in Val d'Isére, Svindal won the gold in the Super-Combined. He also won a bronze medal in the Super-G.
Two years later he successfully defended his Combined title at the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships held in 2011 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
Aksel Lund Svindal won two medals at the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships held in 2013 in Austria at Planai in Schladming, a gold in the Downhill and a bronze in the Super-G.
After an Achilles tendon injury in October 2014, Svindal missed the Alpine World Ski Championships in Vail in 2015.
After his season-long injury, Svindal won seven World Cup races before he suffered a season-ending injury -he ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his right knee- after a nasty fall during a race in Kitzbuhel, Austria on January 23, 2016.
After a strong start to the 2016–2017 winter season including three World Cup podiums, he suffered a season-ending injury, a detached meniscus, and missed the 2017 Alpine World Ski Championships in St. Moritz.
In his final race, the Downhill at the 2019 Alpine World Ski Championships in Åre, Svindal finished second in a Norwegian 1-2 podium, two-hundredths of a second behind his team-mate Kjetil Jansrud.
Olympic Winter Games Starts: 15
Olympic Winter Games Medals: 4
Olympic Winter Games Victories: 2
FIS Alpine World Ski Championships Starts: 29
FIS Alpine World Ski Championships Podiums: 9
FIS Alpine World Ski Championships Victories: 5
FIS World Cup Starts: 387
FIS World Cup Podiums: 80
FIS World Cup Victories: 36
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