For Laviai and Lina Nielsen, 28-year-old identical twins from East London who rank among the world’s fastest runners, a single second is an eternity.
In two weeks’ time they will both be running for Team GB in the 4 x 400m relay at the Paris Olympics; Laviai is also going for gold in the 400m and Lina in the 400m hurdles.
‘If someone is one second behind in a sprint, it’s clear they’re losing,’ says Lina.
‘You don’t have to look at the photo finish. We train to beat milliseconds. That can mean the difference between a medal and nothing at all.’
The fastest kids – boy or girl – at their school, the twins were tipped for the top from childhood and fast-tracked into elite athletics programmes. But their story has had hurdles too: both Lina and Laviai have multiple sclerosis (MS).
Clothes, accessories and jewellery Marine Serre. Trainers, Adidas and Puma
As with other auto-immune conditions the body’s immune system mistakes something that’s meant to be there for an invading disease. In the case of MS, it attacks a substance called myelin which forms a protective sheath around nerve fibres. When MS flares up, this strong coat is stripped off, which slows, distorts or stops the signals moving along the fibres, causing fatigue, numbness, muscle spasms and pain.
The twins must control and manage their symptoms on a day-to-day basis. This isn’t ideal for an Olympic athlete. ‘We still do what we love – which is running as fast as we can,’ says Laviai. Lina adds: ‘Even though there’s a roadblock we still aim to get to the same place. The fact that we have each other, we have someone there to understand without having to say anything, that’s what’s kept us going.’
Laviai – it’s pronounced Lah-vi-ah, she says in her soft London accent – wears a brown skirt and white T-shirt and Lina is in a sporty crop top. They finish each other’s sentences, say the same thing at the same time and almost dance around each other, showing how close they’ve been their whole lives.
‘It’s like living with another you,’ says Laviai. ‘We know each other’s boundaries, when to watch a movie or when Lina needs to Facetime her boyfriend. We shop for make-up, and I’m like, ‘Lina, can I put this on your face so I know what it looks like on me?’
Clothes and bag, Christian Dior
Having each other as best friends and training partners as well as sisters has helped, because training for the Olympics wrecks their social lives: in 2022 they moved to Aarhus in Denmark to train with Tony Lester, who coached Olympians Roger Black, Mark Richardson and Nicola Sanders.
Laviai is single but is Lina’s boyfriend understanding about her prolonged absence? ‘He used to be a track athlete, though he’s now retired at the grand old age of 27, so he gets it,’ Lina explains. ‘We sacrificed a lot of friendships from school as we got into our 20s. Athlete friends know why we won’t always be at birthday parties. They’re like, ‘We’ll be here when you finish your career, you guys have goals.’
Competing at elite level is partly about how you’re made. Sprinters, for instance, have faster twitch fibres in their muscles thanks to a variant of a gene known as ACTN3.
The twins were born in Leytonstone, and when London bid in 2005 for the 2012 Olympics, their school Mayville Primary was in Waltham Forest, one of the Olympic Boroughs. It became a sports specialist school, laying an athletics track. When the nine-year-old twins saw it, ‘we started running’, Lina says simply.
‘Our teachers noticed: ‘Don’t these girls get tired running their whole lunch break?’ We just loved the feeling.’
In school and district competitions, the twins won every race – any distance, it didn’t matter. ‘We didn’t even train,’ Lina says, shaking her head. ‘We also loved winning, especially beating boys,’ Laviai chips in, and they laugh. ‘We grew up on an estate, and we’d take the local boys’ football so they’d chase us. One of them had a crush on us. He chased us to the point where his legs started hurting and his joke was, ‘love hurts’.’
A moment of unity at the British Athletics Indoor Team Trials in Sheffield, 2017
They have no recollection of their Danish father being involved in their lives – ‘We didn’t grow up with him, so we didn’t know much about our Danish side,’ Laviai explains. Their mother raised them, and they’d visit her family in Sudan every summer.
Their lives changed when they were selected as volunteers for the London Olympics, collecting athletes’ backpacks loaded with snacks, drinks, extra tracksuits and mobile phones before the race from a kit room beneath the stadium, then taking them out and lining up next to the competitors.
‘Our orders were, ‘Hands behind the back, don’t look anywhere else but in front of you’,’ remembers Laviai.
They took those instructions seriously. Until the women’s heptathlon heats…
‘The women were Amazons, all very tall,’ says Laviai. ‘We weren’t allowed to look to the side, but I did a slight turn, and oh my god, it was Jessica Ennis-Hill! Walking out into the stadium with her there was this roar of noise and cameras flashing – it was incredible. There was nothing else in the world at that moment.’
After that, the high-flying pair secured Team GB coaching with Frank Adams of Enfield & Haringey Athletic Club. But in December 2013 Lina had another attack of a mystery condition. She was 13 when she first experienced symptoms, but this time they were much worse.
‘It started in my fingers, but it was a quick progression,’ she says. ‘One minute I couldn’t hold a pen, the next I couldn’t walk. They thought it might be a tumour, but it was happening way too fast, so they hospitalised me. MRI scans, all sorts. I’d worn Dr Martens to the hospital. When Laviai came with mum she was wearing slippers. I asked if we could swap because I couldn’t lift my right leg.’
In February, just before her 18th birthday, the doctor told her she had relapsing- remitting MS, meaning she would have flare-ups then the symptoms would recede or disappear. But they didn’t know how things would progress. She might need to stop running, the doctor told her. Lina burst into tears in his office.
‘It was a dark time,’ she admits. ‘I lost all enjoyment in life. I had panic attacks.
The nurse said I was going through depression, but I never got diagnosed because I didn’t want another condition. It was always there.’
She didn’t tell Laviai for two months, partly because as twins there was a good chance they both had the condition. Lina felt strangely guilty. Laviai could tell something was wrong: ‘She was quiet and looked a bit washed out. I feel what she feels – if she’s upset, I’m upset; if she cries, I cry.’
Swimwear, Hunza G. Jewellery, Sonia Petroff
With teammates Ama Pipi and Jessie Knight after winning 400m relay bronze at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow this March
Lina finally told her when they were in the back of their mum’s car. ‘Why didn’t you tell me before?’ Laviai said and hugged her. Their coach trained Lina separately, starting with light jogging. He also made her his assistant coach, giving her a role in the Enfield & Haringey Athletic Club even when she wasn’t able to train.
Meanwhile, Laviai was picking up medals. In 2019 she arrived at the World Championships in Doha ranked 15th in the world. Then suddenly, she slumped, finishing last in her heat and failing to qualify for the final – a burnout that she couldn’t explain.
‘It was horrible. I didn’t want to run any more,’ she says. To reignite her passion, she turned out for Saturday morning Parkruns at Grovelands Park in North London, plodding around the 5km course. Schoolgirls and pensioners finished ahead of her.
‘One 16-year-old girl said, ‘I do cross country, can I run with you?’ Laviai recalls. ‘I said, ‘Darling, you’re way faster than I am.’
But seeing people enjoying it, I thought how lucky we are todo this. It got me back when I feared I might never run again.’
Then, just as she got her groove back – and after qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 – she started finishing races with a numb feeling on one side. After seeking medical advice, Laviai was also diagnosed with MS. The twins kept it to themselves until, finally, after Lina suffered a severe relapse before the 2022 World Championships, they went public with their condition and were overwhelmed by messages of support.
The lifespan of an athlete is fleeting. What will they do next? They don’t think about retiring, but they’re working out what would fulfil them as much as running. Fashion and food are winning.
They’ve been signed by the modelling agency Storm and featured in shoots in Vogue, Elle and Harrods Magazine. There’s also their Instagram food blog @nielsenskitchen – launched when they were living in Florida and training at the Tumbleweed Track Club in Jacksonville.
Also on hold is medication for MS.
Lina, age 11, shows off her medals
Steroids can cause osteoporosis, a health condition that weakens bones and makes them more likely to break, and Lina decided that a relapse isn’t as bad as thinning bones. But there’s always uncertainty, and a regression might happen any time. ‘We try to manage it through diet [rich in vegetables, fruit, legumes, wholegrain cereals, fish and fibre, see box, above] and listening to our bodies,’ she says, meaning rest when there needs to be rest.
As they get up to leave, they hug, and I’m reminded of a photograph at the British Athletics Indoor Team Trials in 2017 (see page 18). Their arms are around each other as they stare into the distance, waiting for Lina’s heat time to appear. They’re together, not isolated like most athletes in moments of trial. That’s the key to their resilience.
Whatever is happening, they have each other. Just after the picture was taken, Lina’s time flashed up – 52.89 seconds. The qualifying time was 53 seconds. She made it by milliseconds. For most people, that’s an inconceivably brief length of time.
In Paris, it’s enough to win them gold.
Lina and Laviai’s Day on a Plate
6am Breakfast
Oats with fruit toppings, or a slice of sourdough bread with seven-minute eggs and salmon or anchovies for protein.
1pm Lunch
Kale and roasted sweet potatoes with grilled chicken breast, topped with seeds for added nutrients.
7pm Dinner
A home-cooked lasagne or a slow-cooked leg of lamb with creamy mashed potatoes and vegetables.
Between meals Snacks
Homemade smoothies or protein shakes and homemade sticky toffee baked oats with a cup of tea.
Picture director: Ester Malloy
Stylist: Joanne M Kennedy
Make-up: Maria Camparetto using Iconic London
Hair: Davide Barbieri at A-Frame agency using Leonor Greyl
Manicurist: Mandesa Peters at Carol Hayes