Norway opened their account in the women’s competition at the Paris 2024 Olympic games, with a 28:17 win over Denmark, making a statement of intent, after their first-day loss against Sweden. This was also Denmark's largest loss in history at the Olympic Games, beating the previous record of six goals.

PARIS 2024 OLYMPIC GAMES – PRELIMINARY ROUND
GROUP A
Denmark vs Norway 18:27 (8:14)

After the loss against Sweden in the first match of the women’s competition at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, which sent a shockwave throughout the tournament, the reigning European champions needed to make a statement of intent and deliver a good performance against their archrivals, Denmark.

Denmark were fresh from a clear eight-goal win against Slovenia, therefore looked to have the upper hand, only for Norway to really prove they are a powerhouse in the first 20 minutes of the match. A 6:0 run, followed by another 4:0 unanswered run, which prevented Denmark to score for stints of nine minutes and three seconds and six minutes and 57 seconds, helped Norway take a 11:2 lead.

It was a huge gap, nine goals, which is difficult to cancel in any handball match, not only when the opponent is such a star-studded and experienced team like Norway. Denmark looked like they were looking down and dusted, failing to get a grasp of the match, with Norway goalkeeper, Silje Solberg-Osthassel, saving five of the first eight shots she faced, for a 63% saving efficiency.

Two team time-outs from coach Jesper Jensen, who started to risk everything in this match, managed to calm his side and Denmark tried to get back into the match, with their own 4:0 run, where Denmark scored more goals in three minutes and 33 seconds than in the first 18 minutes. Jensen also substituted starting goalkeeper Althea Reinhardt, who saved one shot, with Sandra Toft, as the saving percentage improved drastically, from 11% to 44%.

Yet it was still Norway, led by Solberg-Osthassel, who had a 50% saving efficiency, in the driver’s seat, with a six-goal lead at the break, 14:8, despite Denmark playing every attack with a seven-on-six option deployed by Jensen, while the defence looked better and better, stopping Norway in their tracks. 

Whether Denmark had something more or not in the tank, it was still to be seen, but their attacking output was, once again, debatable at best, as the Scandinavian team finished with a 46% shooting efficiency. And while Nora Mørk missed two penalties and finished the match with two goals, Norway were still in command throughout the whole of the second half.

With too many easy misses in one-on-one situations, which hardly helped their cause, both on the scoreboard and mentally, Denmark could only cut the gap to five goals – twice – but never lower than that. It was a constant barrage of balls delivered to Norway’s line players – Kari Brattset Dale scored six times, while Vilde Ingstad and Maren Aardahl combined for three goals – and that choice was probably Norway’s main weapon to secure the win.

Eventually, Norway delivered Denmark their largest-ever loss in history at the Olympic Games, 27:18, beating the previous record set against France, six goals, at the Denmark’s previous appearance in the competition, at London 2012, a result which will surely make Jesper Jensen rethink his approach for the competition.

Both Norway and Denmark now have two points each in the group and are behind Sweden, who have secured two wins and have four points. Next, Denmark are due to face Sweden, while Norway take on the Republic of Korea, with the two matches scheduled for Tuesday.