Harald Christian Strand Nilsen (born May 7, 1971 in Gjøvik

Gjøvik

is a town and a municipality in Oppland county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Gjøvik.In 1861, the village of Gjøvik in the municipality of Vardal was granted town status and was separated from Vardal to form a separate municipality...

) is a retired Norwegian

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 alpine skier

Alpine skiing

Alpine skiing is the sport of sliding down snow-covered hills on skis with fixed-heel bindings. Alpine skiing can be contrasted with skiing using free-heel bindings: Ski mountaineering and nordic skiing – such as cross-country; ski jumping; and Telemark. In competitive alpine skiing races four...

.

The all rounder won no World Cup Races during his active career, but gained several podiums, especially 1994/95 season. At the end of that season he made thirdplace in the Giant Slalom World Cup behind Alberto Tomba

Alberto Tomba

Alberto Tomba is an Italian retired alpine ski racer. He was the dominant technical skier in the late 1980s and 1990s. Tomba won three Olympic gold medals, two World Championships, and nine World Cup season titles; four in slalom, four in giant slalom, and one overall title...

 of Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, and Jure Kosir. The 13th place in the overall Alpine skiing World Cup

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 and the USA...

 was to become his best classification in any year.

In the following years Strand Nilsen specialized in Slalom skiing 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

1994 Winter Olympics

The 1994 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVII Olympic Winter Games, was a winter multi-sport event celebrated from 12 to 27 February 1994 in and around Lillehammer, Norway. Lillehammer failed to win the bid for the 1992 event. Lillehammer was awarded the games in 1988, after having beat...

 he won third place in the Combined event

Alpine skiing combined

Combined is an alpine skiing event. Although not technically a discipline of its own, it is sometimes referred to as a fifth alpine discipline, along with downhill, super G, giant slalom, and slalom.-Traditional & Super-Combined:...

, behind his fellow countrymen Lasse Kjus

Lasse Kjus

Lasse Kjus is a retired Norwegian alpine skier who has won the overall World Cup twice, an Olympic gold medal, and several World Championships...

 and Kjetil André Aamodt

Kjetil André Aamodt

Kjetil André Aamodt is a Norwegian former alpine ski racer, and is the most decorated in history....

.

He retired at the end of the 2002/03 season.

Strand Nilsen is today situated in his hometown Gjøvik, Norway.