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 The UCI World Championships are annual competitions promoted by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to determine world champion cyclists. They are held in several different styles of racing, in a different country each year. Championship winn ...

and in 2021, she became the first Icelander to participate in handcycling at the

Paralympics The Paralympic Games or Paralympics is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disabilities. There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Kore ...

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 a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

. In her youth, she trained

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...

and

skiing Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow for basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and the International S ...

. During the summer of 2006, she played for

BÍ/Bolungarvík The Vestri men's football team, commonly known as Vestri, is the men's football department of the Íþróttafélagið Vestri multi-sport club and is based in Ísafjarðarbær, Iceland. As of 2024, it plays in the Icelandic top-tier Besta deild ka ...

'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, 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 Reykjavík is the Capital city, capital and largest city in Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland on the southern shore of Faxaflói, the Faxaflói Bay. With a latitude of 64°08′ N, the city is List of northernmost items, the worl ...

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 The UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships are the world championships for road cycling where athletes with a physical disability compete, organized by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI). The Championships were earlier administered by the ...

. On 20 March 2016, she finished first in road race event at a European Handcycling Federation's competition in

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi is the capital city of the United Arab Emirates. The city is the seat of the Abu Dhabi Central Capital District, the capital city of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, and the UAE's List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, second-most popu ...

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, were an international multi-sport event, 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 Inte ...

Tokyo, Japan Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

, 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