Erna Sóley Gunnarsdóttir
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
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| Born | 22 March 2000 | ||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||
| Sport | Athletics | ||||||||||||||
Event | Shot put | ||||||||||||||
| Achievements and titles | |||||||||||||||
| Personal bests | Shot put 17.92m (Birmingham, 2023) NR | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Erna Sóley Gunnarsdóttir (born 22 March 2000) is an Icelandic shot putter. She holds the Icelandic national record, both outdoors and indoors, in the shot put. In 2024, she became the first female shot putter to represent Iceland at the Olympic Games.[1]
Career
Gunnarsdóttir took part in many sports at a young age, such as gymnastics, swimming, karate and especially handball. From the age of 15 years-old, she began to focus solely on throwing events in athletics. She graduated from Rice University in the United States in 2023. In Iceland, she has been coached by Icelandic Olympian Pétur Guðmundsson.[2]
She won the bronze medal at the 2019 European Athletics U20 Championships in Borås, Sweden, throwing 15.65 meters.[3] In 2021, she threw an Icelandic national record of 16.77 metres and was a finalist at the 2021 European Athletics U23 Championships in Tallinn, Estonia.[4] In August 2022, she threw 16.41 metres whilst competing at the 2022 European Athletics Championships in Munich, Germany but did not advance from the qualifying round.[5]
In February 2023, Gunnarsdóttir improved her own Icelandic indoor record twice; first to 17.70m in Albuquerque, New Mexico and then to 17.92m whilst competing in the United States in Birmingham, Alabama to increase the record by 97 centimetres in a few weeks.[6][7] In August 2023, she competed at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, but did not advance from the qualifying round.[8]
She competed at the 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow, Scotland.[9] She competed at the 2024 European Athletics Championships in Rome, Italy.[10] With a throw of 17.91m, Gunnarsdóttir improved her Icelandic outdoor national record on 30 June 2024 at the Icelandic Championships in Akureyri.[11] She competed at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France, to become the first female shot putter to represent Iceland at the Games.[2][12]
She competed at the 2025 European Athletics Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn, Netherlands, placing sixteenth overall.[13] She threw 16.05 metres to win the 2025 European Athletics Team Championships Third Division shot put title in Maribor in June 2025.[14] In September 2025, she competed at the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo, Japan.[15][16]
References
- ^ "Erna Sóley Gunnarsdóttir". World Athletics. Retrieved 11 September 2025.
- ^ a b "Throwing For Gold: Erna Sóley Chases Her Olympian Dream". Grapevine.is. July 31, 2024. Retrieved 11 Sep 2025.
- ^ "Erna Sóley náði bronsinu í Svíþjóð". Visir.is. 21 July 2019. Retrieved 11 Sep 2025.
- ^ "Erna endaði í níunda sæti á EM". mbl.is. 10 July 2021. Retrieved 11 Sep 2025.
- ^ "European Athletics Championships". World Athletics. 15 August 2022. Retrieved 11 September 2025.
- ^ "Erna Sóley significantly improved her own record and now has the fourteenth longest throw of the year worldwide". Visir.is. 5 Feb 2023. Retrieved 11 Sep 2025.
- ^ Jónsson, Óskar Ófeigur (February 20, 2023). "Erna Sóley has improved the Icelandic record by 97 centimeters in a few weeks". Visir.is. Retrieved 11 Sep 2025.
- ^ "World Athletics Championships Budapest 2023". World Athletics. 26 August 2023. Retrieved 11 September 2025.
- ^ "Erna Sóley was considerably off her best and came in 14th". Ruv.is. 1 March 2024. Retrieved 11 Sep 2025.
- ^ "European Athletics Championships". World Athletics. 7 June 2024. Retrieved 11 September 2025.
- ^ "Erna Sóley strong ahead of the Olympics". ruv.is. 30 July 2024. Retrieved 11 September 2025.
- ^ "The XXXIII Olympic Games". World Athletics. 8 August 2024. Retrieved 11 September 2025.
- ^ "Erna Soley sixteenth at European Championships". Visir.is. 8 March 2025. Retrieved 11 Sep 2025.
- ^ "Erna won in Slovenia". mbl.is. 25 June 2025. Retrieved 11 Sep 2025.
- ^ "World Athletics Championships, Tokyo 2025". World Athletics. 13 Sep 2025. Retrieved 21 September 2025.
- ^ "Three Icelandic throwers compete at the World Championships in Tokyo". Visir.is. 27 August 2025. Retrieved 11 Sep 2025.