Aksel Lund Svidal has taken over the mantle left by legends Kjetil Aamodt and Lasse Kjus in becoming Nowary's leading men's skier and clinching the Overall title, a feat he managed in 2007. A classic all-rounder, Svindal combines supreme technical ability with the fearlessness of a speed racer and he began to set the world of skiing alight in the 2005 season when he won his first race at Lake Louise. The Scandinavian had already caught the eye two seasons before when he finished second in the prestigious race at Kitzbuehel behind the Austrian Michael Walchhofer but 2005 gave him the confidence and belief that he could challenge for top honours.
The 2006 season saw him finish second in the overall standings and winner of the SuperG Globe, ahead of the great Hermann Maier, a huge improvement on the previous season and the following year was his best to date with the capture of the Overall Globe alongside the GS and Combined individual titles.

The victory in the Overall standings was all down to a remarkable performance in the Finals of Lenzerheide. Going into the finals Svindal was trailing Benni Raich by 103 points having failed to complete the previous race at Kvitfjel but a remarkable comeback that saw him complete a hat-trick of victories in the DH, SG and GS meant that his 15th place in the last race, the slalom, was enough to keep him 13 points ahead of his Austrian rival and award him the Big Globe.

From 2005 to 2007 Svindal managed nine wins over the four disciplines with a further six podium finishes and he was all set to reclaim his Overall crown in the 2007/08 season but fate had other plans.

The winter had started in the best of ways with a win in the Giant Slalom of Soelden and another victory in the Downhill at Lake Louise but his season ended in Beaver Creek, Colorado, just a week later. A terrible crash during a training run on the spectacular 'Birds of Prey' slope inflicted some serious injuries on Svindal and he had to just concentrate on recovering.

The tall, handsome 26-year-old has already surpassed his two predecessors, Aamodt and Kjus, in becoming the first Norwegian to take gold in the DH at the World Championships (Are, Sweden), a result that he quickly replicated in the GS on the very same slope, something which had always eluded the two senior athletes despite their almost 40 medals in World Cup.

Svindal made his comeback from the serious injuries suffered in Beaver Creek in Verbier, Switzerland, for the Carlsberg High Five competition after only a few weeks training and everybody was expecting to see the 'Old' Svindal back for the up and coming season.

The 2008/09 season proved to be another milestone in the career of Svindal and may well be seen as one of the greatest comebacks in sporting history, enough to rival Maier's own incredible comeback years earlier. Facing the slope that had nearly ended his career a year later, a slighlty slimmer Svindal went on to win both the DH and the superG on the Birds of Prey course and came third in the GS.

Those results set the tone for what was to come. A dip in form in the middle part of the season saw him enter the finals in Are eight points off Raich and Kostelic's pace in the overall title. A win in the first race, the downhill, soon put him right back in contention for the overall globe and he followed that up with a second place in the superG. 19th place in the GS compromised his chances of glory, though. Although he had a lead of two points Raich was expected to score more points in the Austrian's favoured slalom but luck was shining on Svindal because Raich straddled, handing the overall title to the Norwegian even before he had started his race.

Alongside the Overall title, Svindal also managed to clinch the superG globe, beating the great Hermann Maier on the last day of the season. To add to that tally he also won two medals at the World Championships of Val d'Isère. He took gold in the supercombined and bronze in the superG.

The comeback was complete and Aksel will be remembered as one of the all-time greats in years to come