Monica Grefstad Frøynes (née Grefstadt, born 12 October 1964) is a retired Norwegian athlete who competed mainly in the

100 metres hurdles The 100 metres hurdles, or 100-meter hurdles, is a track and field event run mainly by women (the male counterpart is the 110 metres hurdles). For the race, ten hurdles of a height of are placed along a straight course of . The first hurdle is ...

. She represented Norway at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

in 1993 and 1995, and at the World Indoor Championships in 1995 and 1997. Her personal bests of 13.09 seconds in the 100 metres hurdles (Oslo 1994) and 8.06 seconds in the 60 metres hurdles (Paris 1994), are former Norwegian records.

Career

Grefstad set her first Norwegian record in the 100 metres hurdles in 1993 when clocking 13.38 seconds. After improving it six times in two seasons, the record stood until it was beaten by Lena Solli in 1995. In addition, Grefstad held the Norwegian

60 metres 60 metres, or 60-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field. It is a championship event for indoor championships, normally dominated by the best outdoor 100 metres runners. At indoor events, the 60 metres is run on lanes set out in the mi ...

record from 1995 to 1996 with a time of 7.41 seconds. Grefstad was an able sprinter and long hurdler as well. In the 1980s, representing the club

Ranheim IL Ranheim Idrettslag is a Norwegian alliance sports club from Ranheim, Trondheim. It has sections for association football, team handball and track and field. The football club plays in the 1. Divisjon of Norway General history The club was founde ...

, Grefstad became Norwegian champion in the 400 metres hurdles in 1987 and 1988, winning silver medals in 1989 and 1991. She also took two silver and one bronze medal in the

100 metres The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contested at ...

, a silver and a bronze in the

200 metres The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400-metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slight ...

, and became Norwegian champion in the

standing long jump The standing long jump, also known as the standing broad jump, is an athletics event. It was an Olympic event until 1912. It is one of three standing variants of track and field jumping events, which also include the standing high jump an ...

in 1997. In the 1990s she represented the clubs SK Vidar and IF Minerva. In her main event, the 100 metres hurdles, Grefstad became Norwegian champion in 1993, 1994 and 1997 and also took three silver and three bronze medals. Grefstad married athletics coach, agent and meet director Ståle Jan Frøynes and settled in

Vear Vear is a village in Tønsberg Municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. The village is located along the border with Sandefjord Municipality and along the Tønsbergfjorden, about to the southwest of the city of Tønsberg and about to the sou ...

. Their daughter Amanda Grefstad Frøynes (b. 1998) finished 11th in heptathlon at the 2016 World Junior Championships. Monica Grefstad Frøynes works as the managing director for Vestfold District of Athletics, and was in 2015 elected as the employees' representative on the

Norwegian Athletics Association The Norwegian Athletics Association (, NFIF) is the national governing body for the sport of athletics in Norway, including track and field, road running, cross country running and racewalking. The association is a member of the Norwegian Olymp ...

board of directors.

Competition record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grefstad, Monica 1964 births Living people Athletes from Trondheim Norwegian female hurdlers World Athletics Championships athletes for Norway 20th-century Norwegian sportswomen