Mr.Perfect: Mathias Gidsel displays otherworldly efficiency in quest for records

The current record for the largest number of goals scored by a single player in the men’s handball competition at the Olympic Games is held by Denmark’s star Mikkel Hansen, who scored 61 goals three years ago, at Tokyo 2020.

But that record might be in danger. However, it will still be a Denmark player who breaks, provided Mathias Gidsel scores 22 goals at Paris 2024. The right back has a superb start of the competition, with 40 goals in four matches, an average of 10 goals per match, and a 14-goal gap over the second-placed player in the top goal scorer standings, teammate Simon Pytlick.

But Gidsel is no stranger to fantastic performances. Back at Tokyo 2020, he was the second best scorer in the competition, with 46 goals, 15 less than Hansen. That was his second major international competition and the first one where he was named the MVP.

Last January, Gidsel won the scoring crown at the 2023 IHF Men’s World Championship, scoring 60 times. This January, he was the top scorer at the EHF EURO 2024, with 54 goals. In 74 matches for Denmark, he has 416 goals, an average of 5.6 goals per match.

But does this scoring prowess come natural for the 2023 IHF Male World Player of the Year?

“I don't know really, I have been involved in a lot of our offensive plays. I have the ball a lot, I have a lot of shots. So, of course it is natural that I am high on the top scorer list. For me it is just about being effective as much as possible,” says Gidsel.

His best outing in terms of the output was in Denmark’s win against Argentina on Wednesday, when he scored 13 goals from 13 shots, coming close to break two records. First, the one for the largest number of goals scored in a match at the Olympics, still held by Poland’s Jerzy Klempel, who scored 15 times against Tunisia at Montreal 1976.

The second one is the largest number of goals scored in a single match by a Denmark player. Coincidentally, that record is also 15 goals, held by the current coach, Nikolaj Jacobsen, who set it in 1998, in the qualifiers for the 1999 IHF Men’s World Championship, in a 33:20 win against Greece.

However, just before Gidsel could tie those records, he was replaced by Jacobsen, who gifted his right back a much-needed rest, as Denmark clinched their quarter-finals berth, where things will really get serious.

" 13 goals in 13 attempts. I'm quite satisfied, but I knew very well that I had to be replaced just before Nikolaj's goal record. We have an internal joke in the team that no one is allowed to beat it as long as he is national coach," smiled Gidsel after the match against Argentina.

But it is not about only the goals scored by the 2023 IHF Male World Player of the Year. Traditionally, Gidsel is incredibly efficient in major international competitions. At his debut major international competition, the 2021 IHF Men’s World Championship, he had a 80% shooting efficiency.

One year later, at the EHF EURO, Gidsel converted 88% of his shots. In his MVP campaign at the 2023 IHF Men’s World Championship, the right back scored 60 goals from 80 shots, a 75% shooting efficiency. And in January, the Danish star had an 82% shooting efficiency at the EHF EURO.

Basically, for such a high-volume player, his numbers are unprecedented, making three out of four shots, or even four out of five on the biggest of stages. And in the men’s handball competition at Paris 2024, Gidsel kept his cool, with 40 goals from 51 shots, for a 78% efficiency.

Is it focus, or just preparation?

“No, I just think it is like being really humble and trying to do the best every time, even though when you are in front of 10 or only with one. Trying to be decisive, trying to be focused about finishing the shots really well. I am also a right wing, this is the position I played when I started, so I maybe have this natural thing of high efficiency. I don't know, I am just trying to do my things really well,” says Gidsel.

Right now, it looks like the right back will break the 100-goal tally at the Olympics, after scoring 46 goals in Tokyo and 40 at Paris 2024. Keeping his average at this level, the record will be broken in the quarter-finals. And then, who knows, maybe Mikkel Hansen’s record as the all-time top goal scorer at the Olympics – currently at 180 goals – will be next.