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INNSBRUCK, Austria — Downhill racer Aleksander Aamodt Kilde is having a second operation Thursday five days after his shocking crash and airlifted exit from Switzerland’s signature World Cup event.
The former World Cup overall champion, and longtime partner of American star Mikaela Shiffrin, posted on social media that the latest surgery would be for two torn ligaments in his right shoulder.
Kilde’s shoulder dislocated Saturday in a high-speed crash into safety fences at the final turn of the longest downhill race on the World Cup circuit at Wengen, Switzerland.
The first surgery Saturday in the Swiss capital Bern was urgent to repair a severe cut and nerve damage in his right calf.
“Considering the impact of the crash and the fact that I went into the net at 120 [kmh, 75 mph], I am doing surprisingly well,” Kilde wrote. “I’ll spare you guys the graphic photos of the laceration here, because not sure many could stomach them.”
“Mikaela and her family were with me when I woke up [Saturday], and I am thankful my mom and dad are here now” in Innsbruck, he added. “… It’s tough, but these opportunities show us what we’re made of.”
The 31-year-old Norwegian’s good spirits were further shown by reposting on Instagram a video clip of himself with two teammates dancing on a mountainside to the Abba hit “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight).”
Shiffrin traveled from Austria to Switzerland on Saturday to be with Kilde then returned to win her next race Tuesday in a night slalom under floodlights at Flachau.
Kilde is a two-time Olympic medalist and the winner of the season-long World Cup downhill title for the past two years. He will miss skiing’s most feared and prized downhill Saturday at Kitzbühel, Austria, which he won in each of the past two years.
“I’ll be watching!” he wrote, adding he hoped “most importantly — that everyone makes it down safely.”