Poland holds a special place in the hearts of Norwegian men's handball. 

Back in 2016, the squad finished fourth in the European Championship held in the northern European country across the cities of Gdansk, Katowice, Krakow and Wroclaw.

That top four rank marked a turning in fortunes for the side, which were for so long in the shadows of their all-conquering women's team, winners of multiple European, World and Olympic titles.

In the five-year period from 2016 to 2021, Norway's men claimed two IHF Men's World Championship silver medals (2017, 2019), when they had previously only finished sixth, a European bronze (2020) and their first Olympic Games qualification for the delayed Tokyo 2020 (held in 2021).

Now, Norway are back in Krakow, ready to open their 2023 IHF Men's World Championship campaign and feel right at home.

"We have really good memories, really, really fond memories of playing handball here in Poland," said centre back Christian O'Sullivan, who was part of the squad seven years ago, to ihf.info in Krakow on the eve of their 2023 campaign starting.

"Back in 2016, we beat Croatia and France, and for the first time in the history of our country, a Norway men's team went to the semi-finals. Sadly, we lost in overtime (to Germany 34:33), but we were big outsiders then.

"Since then, we've been to almost every championship and done really, really well, and hopefully we will do well this time."

After a successful preliminary and main round campaign in Katowice and Krakow, the Norwegians lost that semi-final to the Germans and then, facing Croatia for the second time after a preliminary group win, lost the bronze medal match.

Despite that disappointment in missing out on a podium spot, it started that run of international success and O'Sullivan's teammate back then and still today, Sander Sagosen, cannot wait to get reacquainted with Poland.

"That was more or less our breakthrough to step up to the highest level of handball," said the THW Kiel right back about the experience of his side back in 2016.

"It's nice to be back here; we're really looking forward to getting the matches started. All the nerves and things like this, the build-up before the days with training and stuff, now we're really looking forward to just getting in the arena, getting the matches started and enjoying this.

"We have a lot of positive energy going into this world championship."

Now, in 2023, Norway start their campaign against North Macedonia on Friday (13 January) before battling against the Netherlands and Argentina.

The results of those matches will decide if – and how – they go through to the main round.

"That's one of the most interesting and fun parts about playing in a world championship and not a European championship," said 31-year-old O'Sullivan about playing against the South Americans.

"In Europe, most teams play the same way, but here you get to meet teams like Argentina who play handball a little differently. You get to look at how they view handball and the stuff they do very, very well that we don't do. We'll try to steal some of their best game plans and use them against the other teams later, but the challenges are there and there are really, really good teams this year with a lot of young players.

"That's the biggest difference from 2016; a lot of teams have had huge changes, and good young players have replaced older good players."

But experience is always a big factor, and Sagosen certainly has his fair share now.

"I hear all the time now that it's my 10th championship," he says with a smile. "So I feel that I know what to do and I think the group (of players) knows what to do. It's good that we have some nerves because that makes us better, but we are really happy to finally be here. When you arrive in Poland, you know it's not far away until the matches start."

A global title is the goal for all teams at Poland/Sweden 2023, but with the winners automatically qualifying for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and those ranked 2nd – 7th going through to the Olympic Qualification Tournaments, there is something extra to play for.

"If you do well here, it's automatic," said O'Sullivan about qualifying to be in contention for Paris 2024.

"But we're just going to look at the next match because if you lose one or two matches, you're already out of it. For us now, we're just preparing as well as we can for North Macedonia and then we'll take it from there."

"To be honest, we're here to play the world championship and what's coming after that comes later," added Sagosen.

"If you ask me to think one and a half year ahead, then it's too far. A lot of things can happen. We're here to compete for medals and to enjoy this experience. Hopefully, we get a nice ride to Stockholm [for the final weekend]."

Photos: EHF/Kolektiff images