Since 1985, Poland had never opened an edition of the IHF Women’s Junior World Championship with three straight wins. Forty-one years later, they have done exactly that, defeating Tunisia, Chinese Taipei and then Hungary to put themselves on course for their best finish in the competition since 2012, when they ended up seventh.

The wins over Tunisia and Chinese Taipei may not have been especially convincing, but against Hungary, one of the traditional powerhouses in the younger age categories, Poland delivered a composed, well-balanced and determined performance to underline their growing momentum.

Those three wins meant that Poland will start the main round with two points, and a good chance of securing a place in the quarter-finals of the competition, a huge boost of confidence for a generation which could be important for Polish handball when they will co-host the senior IHF Women’s World Championship in 2031, alongside Czechia.

And the signs were there from the start. Last year, Poland narrowly missed a top-8 finish at the W19 EHF EURO 2025, after conceding losses against Czechia (24:30) and Hungary (24:25), with the last match being the decider in the team’s challenge for a better placement.

 

“A year ago, I remember we lost against Hungary by a single goal at the European championship, and we could not qualify. Now we managed to win and it is a bit of a shock, but I am very happy about this and for my girls and how we performed as a team,” said Zuzanna Zimnicka after Poland’s 26:23 win against Hungary.

Zimnicka has been Poland’s main contributor in this generation and has also been the top scorer for Poland at the W19 EHF EURO 2025, with 45 goals, the 14th best scorer of the competition.

But here, at China 2026, she is topping the charts close to the conclusion of the preliminary round. She has scored 26 goals in the first three matches, with a 63% efficiency, having two more goals than Republic of Korea’s Ayoung Suh and four over Tereza Filípková from Czechia.

“Well, I didn't expect that. I think that the team helps me a lot in these goals and it's not my individuality, but rather the whole team works for it. So I'm very happy for that,” says Zimnicka.

Of course, for Poland, this can only be seen as a intermediate objective, as the long-term one is to create a new force to be reckoned with in the senior team, which played two bronze-medal matches at the IHF Women’s World Championship in 2013 and 2015, losing both. First, they conceded the 2013 one against Denmark, 26:30, while two years later they lost against Romania, 22:31. Since then, Poland have never finished in the top-10.

And with a World Championship played on home court in 2031, five years from now, this generation can be crucial, with players getting more and more experience in the domestic league.

Zimnicka, for example, has been getting some important playing time in the Polish league at KPR Gminy Kobierzyce, the team she moved to in the summer of 2025 from Pogon Szceczin, after becoming a junior national champion in both indoor and beach handball in 2023.

The left back, who followed in her brother’s footsteps to play handball, scored 23 goals in the Polish league this season, at only 19 years old, helping her side finish fourth in the ORLEN Women's Superliga, as well as scoring three goals in the EHF European Cup Women for her side, already getting international experience while still being a teenager.

 

“It is going to be really hard in the next matches in the preliminary round, we will play against Japan and probably against Norway, two good and different teams, but I think we can still provide some good matches, like we did here in the preliminary round,” said the left back who was named the Player of the Match against both Tunisia and Hungary.

Poland will surely start with two points in the main round, as will Japan, with Norway and Hungary starting on zero points. Win another match and a virtual quarter-finals berth will be expecting.

“And if we go there, I think we can beat anyone,” Zimnicka concludes.