“It’s the first time,” said Norway coach Thorir Hergeirsson to ihf.info on the eve of their match against hosts Montenegro.

For a head coach who has guided his side to numerous medals since taking over in 2009, including Olympic gold and bronze, World Championship golds, silver and bronzes, plus four European Championship golds and one silver, Hergeirsson has never experienced an Olympic Qualification Tournament – even in his role as assistant where he won even more medals.

However, Podgorica represents a new challenge this weekend as Norway face the Montenegrins on Friday (19 March) and then Romania on Saturday (20 March) in the Tokyo Handball Qualification – Women’s Tournament 1.

“Before, we’ve always qualified through championships, but if you want to go to the Olympic Games and you don’t do it through the European or World Championships, you have to do it through the qualification. I don't use so much energy to focus on [that]. I only focus on the matches and what we have to do.

“We have to play these two matches in 24 hours so it's a little bit special; one team has one day between the matches, but you can’t change it,” he added. “These are the rules and we have to only focus on what we can do. We have players which are in good physical condition and we have played in championships with two matches only [having] 18 hours between them. We managed that [then and will manage that [now]. I'm not afraid of that and it is no different for us that [there] are only three teams [now].”

Ahead of the weekend, both Romania and Montenegro players talked about how their clash is going to be key for qualification, with Norway seen as the strong favourites. However, Hergeirsson is only concentrating on what he and his team can control.

“We are humble and know that both teams, Montenegro and Romania, are strong teams with good players,” he said. “They are dedicated and want to play in the Olympic Games also so all three teams will go all in for making it, and one of the teams will not make it. We have to focus on what we can do to be the one of the two teams to qualify.”

On court, goalkeeper Katrine Lunde has almost seen everything too. If the Vipers Kristiansand player plays against Montenegro, she will break Karoline Dyhre Breivang’s Norwegian women’s record of 305 appearances, held since December 2014. And with it, will become the overall Norway record holder in both women’s and men’s senior teams, with Steinar Ege on top for the men with 262 appearances.

And after making her debut back in September 2002, Lunde is now used to seeing a few familiar faces around on her handball travels, including Montenegro’s assistant coach Bojana Popovic – a former teammate from her time with Viborg HK.

“Normally, now, I know people everywhere but of course it's quite special to see Bojana [Popovic],” said Lunde. “I played with her quite a long time ago and it was a very special time, it was my first Champions League gold. She means a lot to me and I always have been in contact with her through my career and in recent years.”

But Lunde is not in Podgorica for reminiscing, she is here to make the first step on her continued Olympic odyssey – having won medals in the last three Games. However, she is also well aware of the privilege of even being able to step on the court and go to work in what has been an unprecedented previous 12 months.

“I think every handball player who is here is just happy that they can play handball,” said the 40-year-old. “They are just waiting for the next match because the whole year, the whole season, there has not been so many matches; we’re all looking forward to playing more.

“It’s always special to do the [Olympic] qualifications because you have a bit more pressure as you have to qualify for the Olympics,” she added. “In this way [here], I think it’s also a bit fun. You know you have more pressure to play good now it’s only two matches. You just have to you have to play good and stay together as a team. It's normal to have this pressure for us from Norway, I like it. I think it makes the team prepare better and to be more ready for the matches.”

If they were to qualify for Tokyo 2020, Lunde and her side could go on to win gold, equalling the Denmark women’s record of three top spots, but with any podium finish in Japan, can surpass Republic of Korea on total medals, moving on to seven.

“I didn’t even know,” said Lunde about that possible overall record. “It’s special with the Olympics so the people who have not been there ask a bit and, of course, now we have a lot of people here who have experienced it now, so it's always fun to speak about the Olympics, but we don’t think about records, we want to be there because we want to fight for the gold medals.

“No, no, no, no way,” added Lunde when asked if she could ever have thought she would have played so long and won so much when she was starting out on her handball path. “I started actually quite late, going with the national team, I think, I was around 20 or 21 first time I had my championship, so of course I could not imagine how, how good it will be and in this way I'm quite proud of the result of the team I've been playing for and my achievements, so I'm just playing now as long as I find it fun. So, this is how it is, it’s nice.”

A small piece of Norwegian men’s handball history was made in Podgorica last week, when Bjarte Myrhol led his men to book their ticket for Tokyo 2020. Their table-topping exploits in the Tokyo Handball Qualification 2020 – Men’s Tournament 1 means they will be the first men’s side to have qualified since their solitary appearance back in 1972 and Lunde is looking forward to making it a Norwegian double this weekend.

“When you see that they qualified, it’s big for the players, it’s big for handball and it’s big for Norway also that the men finally got through to play in the Olympic Games,” she said. “We want to be there also with them and it will be great to have two teams there.”