Denmark secured a semi-finals berth for the third consecutive edition of the Olympic Games, with a 32:31 hard-fought win against Sweden, with the two teams trading leads and goals until the last second.

PARIS 2024 OLYMPIC GAMES
QUARTER-FINALS
Denmark vs Sweden 32:31 (16:16)

A five-match winning streak to start the preliminary round of the men’s handball competition at Paris 2024, with fantastic performances against Egypt, Hungary, Norway or France, propelled Denmark to the status of the team to beat in the current edition of the Olympics.

Meeting Sweden, a team which had a roller-coaster of a performance throughout the competition, was no easy feature, yet Denmark were still the favourites in the match and that was confirmed easily in the first half, which they controlled, especially with a great attacking performance.

Denmark had a four-goal lead twice, 10:6 and 12:8, taking advantage of Sweden’s woes, especially as Glenn Solberg surprised by starting Felix Claar in the centre back position, with Claar returning after missing three matches, due to an injury. It was a plan to keep Jim Gottfridsson as fresh as possible for Sweden, but the risk was always there, especially as Denmark were the best attack in the competition so far.

However, Sweden started to bounce back slowly, but surely, using a 5:1 run close to the end of the half to turn the match on its head and claw back the lead, 15:14, with Claar scoring five goals in the first half. It was also a goalkeeping issue for Denmark, as one of the best pair of goalkeepers in the competition – Niklas Landin and Emil Nielsen – struggled to provide saves for their team.

Until the 40th minute, Nielsen and Landin combined for only five saves, or a 16% saving efficiency, but Denmark had taken back the lead, 21:19, until Claar and right wing Sebastian Karlsson spurred another 3:0 unanswered run for Sweden, which took back the lead, 22:21, also thanks to goalkeeper Andreas Palicka, who floated at around a 30% saving efficiency.

While Mathias Gidsel struggled to get anything going into his game, the responsibility in attack fell on left back Simon Pytlick, with the All-Star left back of the 2023 IHF Men’s World Championship shining in this match, with eight goals. But it was also Mikkel Hansen, who finally got more playing time in attack, who took over for Denmark.

Facing elimination and the finish of his career, Hansen became more prominent in Denmark’s attack, but the two teams were still tied, 28:28, providing yet another exciting quarter-final at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, after the first two ones ended after extra-time.

With Pytlick and Hansen adding more goals to their tally, Denmark opened a two-goal lead, 30:28, with six minutes to go, as the former improved his overall tally to 44 goals at Paris 2024, only two goals shy of the top goal scorer, teammate Mathias Gidsel, who finished with four goals against Sweden.

The two teams continued to trade goals, with Sweden hovering around the one-goal mark until the end of the match, as the Scandinavian side constantly tried to focus on opening Denmark’s defence with the help of their line player. But then Emil Nielsen saved a one-on-one shot from Oscar Bergendahl with nine seconds to go, with Denmark in possession.

Nikolaj Jacobsen took a team time-out, Denmark did not make the same mistakes as France in the previous match, and clinched the 32:31, making it to the semi-finals of the Olympics for the third consecutive time, after Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.

Denmark will face either Norway or Slovenia in the semi-finals, with the last quarter-final deciding their opponent, while Sweden lament their loss, a painful one, which sees them head home for the second consecutive time in this phase of the competition at the Olympics.