Skofterud won a complete set of 4 x 5 km medals at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships (gold: 2005,gold: 2011, silver: 2003, bronze: 2007) and earned her best individual finish of 13th in the 5 km + 5 km double pursuit in 2003.
Her first individual victory came in a pursuit race in Norway in 2006.
In 2012 Skofterud became the first Norwegian to win the Vasaloppet official ladies class. She sat a new record time, 4.08,24, more than 8 minutes faster than the previous record from 1998. This was the first time ever she competed in a race as long as 90 km.
The 2012/2013 Word Cup season proved to be difficult for Skofterud, due to illness and injuries, and she was forced to quit the season half-way through. She made a come-back on the national team the following winter, but her results were less than satisfactory. After failing to qualify for the 2014 Winter Olympics, Skofterud announced her retirement from the national team, in favour of a career in ski marathon.
On 18 August 2015 Skofterud announced her retirement from top level cross country skiing.
Personal life
In 2005, Skofterud turned down an offer to appear in the Norwegian edition of the men's magazine FHM. The rejection was done after pressure from the Norwegian skiing federation. Skofterud's laptop with several private photos was stolen in 2004, and some of these images appeared on internet discussion groups in November 2006.
Skofterud has suffered from eating disorders and she has told the press that this was the reason why she had to cancel many competitions in the previous seasons.
Skofterud confirmed in June 2008 that she is in a committed relationship with a woman,[1] even though she had male companions in the past.
.jpg)
