About Aksel Lund Svindal
Aksel Lund Svindal (born 26 December 1982) is a Norwegian former World Cup alpine ski racer. Born in Lørenskog in Akershus county, Svindal is a two-time overall World Cup champion (2007 and 2009), an Olympic gold medalist in super-G at the 2010 Winter Olympics and in downhill at the 2018 Winter Olympics, 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. Svindal is sometimes considered the best Norwegian alpine skier ever. While Kjetil Andre Aamodt has been more successful at the Olympics, Svindal is by far the most successful on the World Cup circuit. In January 2019, Svindal announced his retirement from alpine skiing following the 2019 Ski World Championships. == Career == During his career, Svindal won nine World Championship medals, four Olympic medals (two of them gold), two overall World Cup and nine discipline titles (in downhill, super-G, giant slalom, and combined), and 36 World Cup races. Additionally, he won four medals at the World Junior Championships in 2002, including gold in combined. On 27 November 2007, during the first training run for the Birds of Prey downhill race in Beaver Creek, Colorado, Svindal crashed badly after landing a jump. He somersaulted into a safety fence and was taken to Vail Valley Medical Center (now Vail Health Hospital) with broken bones in his face and a six-inch (15 cm) laceration to his groin and abdominal area.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.