“A few,” smiles Norway goalkeeper Katrine Lunde when she is asked by ihf.info about how many messages she has received since announcing earlier this month that the 2025 IHF Women’s World Championship would be her last event with the national team.

“It's overwhelming and very nice for me to feel and see that people care. There have been many nice words, so I'm really grateful for that. Especially on social media, I have got messages from people who say that I have been important for them and this is very nice to hear.”

One of those people will share the court with Lunde on Saturday, Kazakhstan goalkeeper Damira Zhaparova, who called Lunde her “role model” ahead of the event.

“Yeah, I saw that. It's very nice of course,” says Lunde on the eve of their preliminary group H championship opener against Republic of Korea in Trier, Germany on Thursday (27 November).

“But when you're doing your sport and what you really love, sometimes you don't think about how your appearance and how other people can have good [feelings] from this; what you're doing and what you're saying. So these messages are the ones which make more feelings for me.”

So, could another feeling for Lunde be one of relief, now she has made her national team retirement official?

“In one way, it is, because if you say it yourself out loud then it's there, it’s your choice. It’s such a big decision for me and it has been a bit on my mind,” says the 1,80m goalkeeper, who started her handball career in the youth team of Hånes Idrettsforening, based in the Hånes district of Kristiansand, Norway.

“It has been a long career and there have been a lot of good experiences and a lot of work. It's hard mentally to be on the top all the time, and you always should be self-centred to get the best results, so in this way, I feel it's a good decision, but it's very, very hard to know that soon it will be my last time with these girls, the coaches and everything.”

When Lunde joined Serbian club ZRK Crvena Zvezda earlier this year, she said it was so she could become a better handball player and learn from the players there.

This, coming from the 2011 and 2021 IHF Women’s World Championship gold medallist (and four other silver and bronzes), five-time Olympic Games medallist and nine-time European Championship medallist, including seven golds.

And that is just with Norway.

At club level, the list is even longer, topped by seven EHF Champions League titles.

 

“It's so impressive what she's doing and with this integrity, she goes to every training to get better. That's fantastic. I've never seen that in any player – the level that she's on with developing herself,” says Norway coach Ole Gustav Gjekstad to ihf.info about Lunde’s continued motivation.

Gjekstad is taking charge of Norway at a major competition for the first time after the legendary Thorir Hergeirsson stepped down after winning gold with Norway at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and 2024 European Championship one year ago.

“Thorir has been very important for our success in the last years; how he's behaving, how he's building up the team, and how he's like a person as well - he has been a really big part of our success,” explains Lunde about the Icelandic former coach.

“But now we have a new coach and I'm really happy that I know him from before, because it can be a really, really big change when you have a new coach so it feels more natural for me,” says Lunde about Gjekstad, who was her coach at Vipers Kristiansand and Odense Handbold.

“He also knows the systems and a lot of the players, so he is really adapting to the group very well. Of course, there will be changes because he is different, but this can also be good for the team; they see something different, and then together we find a way that is the best way to achieve new, big goals.”

For Lunde, life off of the court is slowly becoming more of a consideration. She expressed an interest in coaching, but with decades of experience behind her, she has managed to put post-playing career thoughts to the side, for now.

“Now, we are really here, we are entering this world championship so I don't have so much focus on it,” she says about the idea of finishing with the national team being in her head at Germany/Netherlands 2025. 

 

“I know that I have to be in my bubble, to be well-prepared for the matches and everything which is demanded of us when we are here, to have good results. Right now, I'm not thinking too much about it, but I know that it will come sometimes and that I'm maybe more emotional [when it does] but I think it'll come later, as I've already been thinking about this before I came here.”

“For her, it's special when she announced that this is her last championship,” adds coach Gjekstad, “but she has been asked these questions for 10 years; ‘how long are you going to play?’, ‘is this your last one or is the next one the last one?’, so she's used to these kind of questions. Now she has said it, that's a special situation, but she is professional, and both we and her, will be trying to keep the focus on the next match and not looking too far ahead. She’s still very good at holding her focus on what she's doing and that's a big strength.”

That focus is clear speaking to the player: take it one game at a time. But that relentless focus has meant that the chance to take a step back and appreciate her success has not always been possible.

“For me, it's really hard to remember every championship [individually] as we have championships every year, and every fourth year we have the Olympics so it become all a bit the same, but to be honest, you just have a goal. You're working to this goal in this year, and then at the end of the year, you see how you're doing. And then when this is finished, you start directly on the new one,” explains Lunde, who was selected most valuable player at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

 

“It’s just about going bit-by-bit-by-bit. You try to just be focused on what your goal is now. So, if it's the world championship or European championship, for me, it’s the same goal, the same path – going until the end.

“Actually, it's a bit of a shame, because you're not enjoying the moment too much sometimes, because you have to be focused on what's happening soon and keep working,” she adds. “I'm looking forward to when I've finished everything, I can sit down and maybe make a [book] in chronological order of everything. Then I can pick up more feelings and more memories because when you have been in so many championships, with many in the same place, it’s a bit confusing, you don’t remember everything.”

One thing that she will never forget is her love for the game, and a wide smile consumers her face when asked what exactly it is she loves about handball.

“I love the emotions,” says Lunde, who continues to break her own appearance record for Norway’s women, currently sitting on 380. “I love to set the goals and try to reach them. I love to be a part of a team with all the girls and people around. And I love the fans. We cannot enjoy it so much when they are not there like it was during corona (covid-19) time, it was so different.”