She is the sister of Liv Grete Skjelbreid and is married with fellow Norwegian biathlete Egil Gjelland.
The following year she won her first international gold medal, on the sprint in the Junior World Championships in Hungary.
In addition she earned another silver medal as a member of the relay team.
She has later participated in many world championships, and has represented Norway in three olympic games: Lillehammer 1994, Nagano 1998, and Salt Lake City 2002.
Ann-Elen Skjelbreid also has one Norwegian title in cross-country skiing from 1995 when she was a part of the team which won gold medal on the 3 x 5 km relay for the club Trysilgutten IL.