# Henny Reistad

Henny Ella Reistad (born 9 February 1999) is a Norwegian professional handball player for Team Esbjerg and the Norwegian national team. She is widely considered one of the best players of her generation. She is famous for her agility and ability to take on defenders in one-on-ones.
In September 2018, she was included by EHF in a list of the twenty best young handballers to watch for the future.
In 2023 she was named best player in the world by the International Handball Federation.

## Career

Reistads senior debut came on December 19th 2015 for the Norwegian first division (second tier) team Stabæk Håndbold.
The same season she and the club was promoted to the top division of Norway, Eliteserien.
In 2018 she joined Norwegian top club Vipers Kristiansand. Here she won the Norwegian Championship in 2019, 2020 and 2021 and the Norwegian cup in 2019. She won the EHF Champions League in 2021. In the Final Four she was named the MVP.
In 2021 she joined Danish side Team Esbjerg. Here she won the 2023 and 2024 Danish Championship, and the 2021 and 2022 Danish Cup. In the 2021/2022 season she was named the best centre back in the division all star team. In 2021 and 2022 she was named Danish player of the year.

### National team

She represented Norway in the 2017 Women's Junior European Handball Championship, placing 7th, and in the 2016 Women's Youth World Handball Championship, placing 4th. At the U-20 World Championship she won silver medals with the Norwegian team, and was named in the all star team.
She debuted for the Norwegian national team on 22 November 2018. Her first major international tournament was the 2018 European Women's Handball Championship, where she scored 18 goals.
She won the 2020 European Championship with the Norwegian team. In the tournament she scored 29 goals.
Same year she won bronze medals at the 2020 Olympics.
Reistad won a gold medal at the 2021 World Women's Handball Championship and was made the All Star team as best left back.
At the 2022 European Championship Norway defended their title, and Reistad was named tournament MVP.
At the 2023 World Championship on home soil she won a silver medal with the Norwegian team, losing to France in the final. In the semifinal against Denmark she scored 15 goals, which is a Norwegian record for most goals scored by a single player in a World cup match and national team match. Reistad was named in the tournament all star team.
At the 2024 Olympics she won a gold medal with the national team, on her second attempt.
In October 2024, Reistad became the team captain for the Norwegian national team.
Two months later she won her third European Championship at the 2022 European Championship, and made the All Star Team as best centre back.

## Private life

Henny Reistad is the great granddaughter of Norwegian athlete Ole Reistad, who competed at the 1920 Olympics in modern pentathlon.
In January 2024, Reistad donated an undisclosed amount of money to her former club, Vipers Kristiansand, which were in economic trouble. Ultimately, the club would go bankrupt regardless a year later.

## Achievements

* Olympic Games:
** Winner: 2024
** Bronze: 2020
* World Championship:
** Winner: 2021
** Silver: 2023
* European Championship:
** Winner: 2020, 2022, 2024
* Junior World Championship:
** Silver Medalist: 2018
* EHF Champions League:
** Winner: 2020/2021
** Bronze medalist: 2018/2019, 2023/2024
** Semifinalist: 2021/2022
* Norwegian League:
** Winner: 2018/2019, 2019/2020, 2020/2021
* Norwegian Cup:
** Winner: 2018, 2019, 2020
** Finalist: 2017
* Danish League:
** Winner: 2023, 2024
* Danish Cup:
** Winner: 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024

## Individual awards

MVP
* MVP of the EHF Champions League Final Four: 2021
* MVP of the European Championship: 2022
* MVP of the World Championship: 2023
* Danish Cup MVP: 2023, 2024
All-Star Team
* All-Star Centre Back of the European Championship: 2024
* All Star Left Back of the World Handball Championship: 2021
* All-Star Young Player of the EHF Champions League: 2021
* All-Star Centre Back of Eliteserien: 2018/2019, 2020/2021
* All-Star Centre Back of the Junior World Championship: 2018
* All-Star Left Back of the Junior European Championship: 2017
* All-Star Left Back of Eliteserien: 2017/2018
Others
* IHF World Player of the Year – Women: 2023
* Best Rookie of Eliteserien: 2017/2018
* Best Player of Eliteserien: 2018/2019, 2020/2021
* Player Of The Year Norway: 2018/2019, 2020/2021, 2021/2022, 2022/2023, 2023/2024
* Danish League Player of the Year: 2021, 2022
* Top Scorer of EHF Champions League: 2022-23 (142 goals)
* Top Scorer of Danish Handball League 2021-22 (245 goals) and 2022-23 (204 goals)
* EHF Excellence Awards Best centre back of the season: 2022/23