Harald Christian Strand Nilsen (born 7 May 1971) is a retired

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

alpine skier Alpine skiing, or downhill skiing, is the pastime of sliding down snow-covered slopes on skis with fixed-heel bindings, unlike other types of skiing ( cross-country, Telemark, or ski jumping), which use skis with free-heel bindings. Whether for ...

. Born in

Gjøvik is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Toten. The administrative centre of the municipality is town of Gjøvik. Some of the villages in Gjøvik include Biri, Bybrua, and Hunndalen. The ...

, the all-rounder won no World Cup Races during his active career, but gained several podiums, especially in the 1994/95 season, where he ended third in the Giant Slalom World Cup behind

Alberto Tomba Alberto Tomba (born 19 December 1966 in San Lazzaro di Savena) is a former World Cup alpine ski racer from Italy. He was the dominant technical skier ( slalom and giant slalom) in the late 1980s and 1990s. At 182 cm and 90 kg, his powerfu ...

and Jure Kosir. The 13th place in the overall

Alpine skiing World Cup The FIS Alpine Ski World Cup is the top international circuit of alpine skiing competitions, launched in 1966 by a group of ski racing friends and experts which included French journalist Serge Lang and the alpine ski team directors from France ( ...

was to become his best classification in any year. In the following years Strand Nilsen specialised in slalom and regularly managed to be among the top 15 in World Cup races. However, he would never quite tie in with his earlier successes of 1994 and 1995. In the Lillehammer Winter Olympics in 1994 he won third placeHarald Chr. Strand Nilsen at Ski-DB
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Combined event Combined track and field events are competitions in which athletes participate in a number of track and field events, earning points for their performance in each event, which adds to a total points score. Outdoors, the most common combined events ...

, behind his fellow countrymen

Lasse Kjus Lasse Kjus (born 14 January 1971) is a former World Cup alpine ski racer from Norway. He won the overall World Cup title twice, an Olympic gold medal, and several World Championships. His combined career total of 16 Olympic and World Champions ...

and

Kjetil André Aamodt Kjetil André Aamodt (born 2 September 1971) is a former World Cup alpine ski racer from Norway, a champion in the Olympics, World Championships, and World Cup. He is one of the most successful alpine ski racers from Norway. Biography Born in ...

. He retired at the end of the 2002/03 season. Strand Nilsen is today situated in his hometown Gjøvik, Norway.

References

1971 births Living people Norwegian male alpine skiers Alpine skiers at the 1994 Winter Olympics Alpine skiers at the 1998 Winter Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for Norway Olympic alpine skiers of Norway Olympic medalists in alpine skiing Medalists at the 1994 Winter Olympics Sportspeople from Gjøvik {{Norway-Winter-Olympic-medalist-stub