Nilsen's most successful season was 1994/95 when he finished in the top three in two combinations and three giant slaloms. He thus achieved third place in the Giant Slalom World Cup, second place in the combined ranking and 13th place in the overall World Cup.
In the years that followed, Strand Nilsen specialized in slalom racing , where she regularly achieved placements in the first 15 of a World Cup race. However , he was unable to build on the successes from 1994 and 1995, in which he achieved a total of six podium places in the giant slalom and in the combination .