Arna Sigríður Albertsdóttir (born 8 June 1990) is an Icelandic handcyclist. Formerly a multi-sport athlete, she took up handcycling after being paralyzed in a skiing accident in 2006. In 2015, she became the first Icelandic athlete to compete in the UCI World Championships and in 2021, she became the first Icelander to participate in handcycling at the

Paralympics The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaired ...

Biography

Early life

Arna was born and raised in

Ísafjörður Ísafjörður (pronounced , meaning ''ice fjord'', literally ''fjord of ices'') is a town in the northwest of Iceland. The oldest part of Ísafjörður with the town centre is located on a spit of sand, or ''eyri'', in Skutulsfjörður, a fjord ...

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

. In her youth, she trained

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

, swimming and

skiing Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow. Variations of purpose include basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IO ...

. During the summer of 2006, she played for

BÍ/Bolungarvík Knattspyrnudeild Vestra, also known as Vestri, is the football department of the Íþróttafélagið Vestri multi-sport club and is based in Ísafjarðarbær, Iceland. Men's History The club was founded in 1986 as the football department of ''Bad ...

's senior football team in the second-tier 1. deild kvenna.

Skiing accident

On 30 December 2006, while in a skiing training camp in

Geilo, Norway is a centre in the municipality of Hol in Viken county, Norway. Geilo is primarily a ski resort town, with around 2,500 inhabitants. It is situated in the valley of Hallingdal, 250 km from Oslo and 260 km from Bergen. The Bergen Line ...

, Arna landed off the track and crashed into a tree, fracturing her spine and paralyzing her below the waist.

Handcycling

A few years after the accident she moved to Reykjavík and started training under the guidelines of trainer Fannar Karvel. Arna first competed in handcycling in the autumn of 2014. In 2015 she became the first cyclist to represent Iceland at the UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships. On 20 March 2016, she finished first in road race event at a European Handcycling Federation's competition in

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the capital and second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the centre of the Abu Dhabi Metropolitan Area. ...

while coming in second in the time trial event. In August and September 2021, she competed at the

2020 Summer Paralympics The , branded as the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, was an international multi-sport parasports event held from 24 August to 5 September 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. They were the 16th Summer Paralympic Games as organized by the International Paralym ...

Tokyo, Japan Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

, becoming the first Icelander to compete in handcycling at the Paralympics. In the time trial event on 31 August, she finished 11th. In the road race event on 1 September, Arna finished 15th.

Photos

Para-cycling German championships and Europe Cup 2016 137.jpg

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Albertsdottir, Arna Sigridur 1990 births Living people Arna Sigridur Albertsdottir Arna Sigridur Albertsdottir Cyclists at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Arna Sigridur Albertsdottir People with paraplegia Women's association football players not categorized by position 21st-century Icelandic sportswomen