The world champion would be as good as Marit Bjørgen. Then she became ill.

The skier believes this year’s WC for pair athletes is extremely important for others with the same dream as her.

– I have said many times that I would be as good as Marit Bjørgen before I got sick. That was the dream and the goal. But then I got the disease which made it unattainable, says Vilde Nilsen.

At the age of eight, she was diagnosed with the disease linear scleroderma. A disease that affects 3 out of 1 million children. It attacks the skin and tissues under the skin – including muscles and skeleton.