At 45 years old, Katrine Lunde capped her legendary career by winning her third IHF Women's World Championship with Norway in 2025, adding to her collection of Olympic golds and EURO titles as handball's goalkeeping stalwart. The gold medal at the World Championship was the 21th medal won by Lunde in a major international competition, and the last, after she announced her international retirement at the end of Germany/Netherlands 2025.

She was named the All-Star goalkeeper at Germany/Netherlands 2025, delivering 86 saves at 48% saving efficiency across the tournament, peaking at 58% after six matches and 14 saves (67%) vs Brazil, absolutely fantastic numbers even by her standard.

Lunde's final masterclass included 14 saves (41%) in the gold-medal win over Germany, earning a fitting tribute from Norway captain and fellow nominee Reistad, who called up Lunde to be the first player to lift the trophy after the win in the final against Germany.