Hreinn Halldórsson

Hreinn Halldórsson (born 3 March 1949) is an Icelandic former track and field athlete who competed in the shot put. His personal best for the discipline was , a former national record.

He twice represented his country at the Summer Olympics and was the gold medallist at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in 1977 (Iceland's first medallist at the competition).

Career Halldórsson was affiliated with KR Reykjavík sports club during his career. He won several national titles in his career, including straight titles from 1975 to 1981. His throw of to win the 1977 Icelandic title remains the best ever mark at the competition.

Internationally, Halldórsson had four consecutive wins at the European Cup qualifiers from 1975 to 1981, including a meet record of . His first major competition was the 1974 European Athletics Championships, but the 25-year-old Halldórsson failed to make it out of the qualifying round. After a ninth-place finish at the 1976 European Athletics Indoor Championships, he entered the 1976 Summer Olympics, where he came 15th in the qualifying round. Later that year he threw a personal best of , which ranked him fourth in the world and was an Icelandic national record (he remains the country's second best shot putter after Pétur Guðmundsson).

Halldórsson was unable to translate his indoor win to an outdoor one at the 1978 European Athletics Championships, placing eighth. His season's best of again ranked him in the top five globally. There were no major events for him to aim for in the 1979 season, but his throw of that year ranked him in the global top ten.

Halldórsson was later an All-American thrower for the Alabama Crimson Tide track and field team, finishing runner-up in the shot put at the 1980 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships. While at Alabama, he was called "Ice Man". As a 30-year-old freshman he was one of the oldest athletes in the NCAA. He was a bus driver in Reykjavík before coming to Alabama.

His highest placing at a world-level event came at the 1980 Moscow Olympics, where he threw in qualifying, then in the final for tenth place. The latter performance was a metre down on his best that season. In his final top level international competition he was sixth at the 1981 European Athletics Indoor Championships.

International competitions