Sweden brushed off the loss against Hungary in the second matchday of the Olympic Qualification Tournament #1 and clinched their Paris 2024 Olympic Games ticket with a big 52:8 win over Great Britain.

Olympic Qualification Tournament #1
Great Britain vs Sweden 8:52 (6:26)

A win would have seen Sweden clinch their fifth consecutive Olympic Games berth and there was little chance that Great Britain could have derailed that outcome, after conceding two losses in their first two matches, where they conceded 92 goals, 11:49 against Hungary and 16:43 against Japan.

The Scandinavian side, who did not have goalkeeper Johanna Bundsen and line player Linn Blohm in their squad, might have lost against Sweden, but in any scenario in the last match between Hungary and Japan, they would have seal one of the top two places in the Olympic Qualification Tournament #1, subsequently clinching their Paris 2024 ticket.

There was no question about the winner, though, as Sweden entered the match fully prepared and used all the British turnovers to create easy fast breaks, which they converted, jumping to a 17:2 lead after 17 minutes, with a 12:0 unanswered run which clearly decided the outcome.

It was the top goal scorer of the 2021 IHF Women’s World Championship, right wing Nathalie Hagman, who shined for Sweden, scoring 11 times in the first half, boosting her big number of matches with goals in double digits, as the Scandinavian side cruised to a 26:6 lead at the break.

With Hagman on the bench for the second half and entering only to convert a penalty shot, Sweden continued to display the same flawless gameplan, especially on defence, as fast breaks became the norm. In fact, Sweden scored more than double the number of Great Britain’s total goals on fast breaks, 15 from 18 shots, as the gap kept growing.

Eventually, the more experienced Scandinavian side secured their second win in three matches, 52:8, against the British side, also becoming the first team in the three Paris 2024 Olympic Qualification Tournaments to score at least 50 goals in one match. With Hagman and Kristin Thorleifsdottir scoring 12 and nine goals respectively, the two players also scored more goals than the entire British team.

Sweden, which dominated both Japan and Great Britain, secured their fifth Olympic Games ticket in a row, but will find out if they finish first or second in the Olympic Qualification Tournament #1 only after the match between Hungary and Japan, needing Japan to win by 13 goals or less to finish first, having a better goal difference in a three-way tie.

Great Britain finished the Olympic Qualification Tournament #1 on the last place, after learning about being a replacement team from Cameroon with only two days before the start of the competition, conceding over 40 goals in each of the three matches played in Debrecen.

hummel Player of the Match: Kristin Thorleifsdottir (Sweden)