In what will go down in IHF World Championship history as a classic, Norway defeated fellow co-hosts Denmark in their 2023 women’s semi-final on Friday night, thanks to a last-second, Henny Reistad strike, her 15th of the game.

And just 12 hours after the final buzzer, teammate Stine Skogrand was talking to IHF.info, surprisingly with a good rest behind her.

“I slept like a baby,” says the Ikast player with her trademark smile and happiness. “I woke up and just got right out of bed. My body felt perfect, I just have so much energy. I really felt that in the whole group this morning.”

Reliable Reistad

In an epic contest, Norway were behind by six goals late in the first half but came back to lead, albeit for just 53 seconds, in the 60 minutes of regulation time.

In the first period of additional time they pushed ahead, but with the scores level at 28:28 and 69:56 on the clock Nora Mork looked up at the cube in the arena to see four seconds remaining and purposefully picked up the ball for a restart in play and passed across court to Reistad on the left.

The centre back, on tiptoes awaiting the ball, took one look up to the clock herself, received the ball with both hands above her head, cut inside, ponytail flying overhead, stepped the other way and floated in the air for the Danish defence to show their hand and sunk home from long range.

Cue wild celebrations from her and her teammates, and even more once the Bosnian referees had double-confirmed using video proof that the ball had crossed the line before the buzzer sounded.

“I just remember watching the clock when she (Reistad) got the ball and it was three seconds left and she's dribbling and taking steps and I'm like, ‘no, no, no, you have to shoot, you will not make it’,” says Skogrand, reliving those closing seconds.

“I think it was really something like 0.02s left on the clock when the ball was inside (the goal) so that was perfect timing from Henny. It was crazy. I cannot understand how we managed to win that game when it was like that. I just thank Henny so, so much for being the best player and that she is from Norway.”

Defence and attack – all in a day’s work for Skogrand

Reistad’s 15 goals was the most in any match of the 2023 IHF Women’s World Championship by an individual player so far and those final moments of attacks in a game for Norway are decided by a select group of players.

“We have one attack group and one defence group when we are preparing for games,” explains the player, who usually plays right back for her club team, but switches to right wing as well when representing her country.

“When we are talking about different tactics, in attack Nora (Mork), Stine (Oftedal) and Henny are the players who decide what to do in in these situations, but also, we want to see what happens in the game, because when Henny has 14 goals before the last one (attack), of course she's going to be the one who's taking the last shot.”

For Skogrand, her dual positional role helps her make more of an impact for Norway as a key player under Thorir Hergeirsson, playing all eight games so far at this championship, starting the last six , and playing for five-and-a-half-hours.

“That's actually special here for the Norwegian team, it's been my role in the national team for as long as I played in the national team. It's a role that I'm happy with because I'm getting a lot of minutes,” says Skogrand about playing both in the backcourt and wing positions.

“I'm really happy about my role in the defence. That's also the reason why I'm playing so much. It's because I'm like ‘half of Nora’. When she's playing attack, I'm playing as well. I love my role. Also playing in the wing is also a little bit different from where I'm playing in my club in Ikast, so that's something I'm working on, my shooting on the wing.”

Sacrifice and reward

Staying fit for eight games, plus the warm-up period, is testament to the hard work and focus of Skogrand, who missed the Norwegian 2021 IHF Women’s World Championship gold medal campaign due to her second pregnancy.

But the sacrifices she has made for her handball career over the years are worth it when she can bring some extra weight home in her luggage.

“The sacrifices all over the years? I really feel that because now it's been almost four weeks since I've been home with my kids, but when we get this far then it's so much worth it, you know?,” says Skogrand, who won the 2015 IHF Women’s World Championship at the Boxen in Herning with Norway, the same venue in which they will play for gold on Sunday.

“The kids are one and four and they're actually back in Bergen now with my parents, ready for the break. We know now that we are having a medal anyways and we go for the gold, but with all the sacrifices with the kids and other stuff, it's more worth it when we get this far.”

And with matches in front of 12,000+ fans and winning a medal, this is why Skogrand plays handball.

“We were actually talking about it when we had the last meal before the game yesterday,” says the 30-year-old.

“Some of us were - of course - a little bit nervous, but ‘good nervous’ because we were feeling that we were playing in a semi-final and then some of us just looked at each other and it was like: ‘Why do we do this to ourselves?’, but when we have a semi-final like this we understand why we do it because it gives us so much.”

Skogrand has been doing it for a decade now.

She made her senior team debut in April 2013 and has played alongside a number of current players throughout the past 10 years, with the Norwegian conveyor belt of talent continuing to supplement the team.

“I'm so happy that we still can win after this generation shift and we are working so well together as a team, trying to build from the bottom and using all the good routine we have,” she explained.

“We have players who have played for so many years. Silje (Solberg) has now played 200 games, Katrine (Lunde) almost 350 and Camilla (Herrem) 300, it’s record-to-record, and if we can manage that for a long time we also have a good future with the national team.

“Also the young Norwegian national teams have good teams with young players coming up and it will be good for the future as well.”

The immediate future sees Skogrand and her side face France in the final on Sunday night, a rematch of their main round group game in Trondheim last week, won by France, after a similar final moment to the semi-final, but this time the Norwegian attack failed to go to plan with Reistad unable to get an initial shot off.

Instead, Skogrand was fed the ball late on in the play and was left having to cut in from a tight angle on the wing, subsequently seeing her shot blocked by Laura Glauser in the French goal.

“After the game against France, we were not happy about how we played,” says Skogrand about the 24:23 loss. “We actually had prepared for more of a running game from them, but they tried to take the tempo out of our game and they actually managed that sometimes. We don't like that because we play best when we have tempo.

“They played smart in their defence and that's one of the things we have to learn. Now we can see that if we are back or under with a couple of goals – or five – nothing is impossible,” she adds with a knowing smile, referring to their deficit against Denmark early on.

“I hope we don't do that tomorrow because it's France and I don't think they will look back if they are in front with five goals. We have to play at our best and Glauser yesterday had a really good game. France have a very good team and we have to play at our best.

“I really admire how physical they are and how they use that in handball with their speed,” says Skogrand about what she enjoys see the French side do on court. 

“Also, how they attack the defensive players and how they also use that well in the team. They have a really good fast break. That’s very good to see, with the fast handball and also a lot of goals. It's very fun to watch.”

Watching from Bergen on Sunday night – if they are not already sleeping – will be Skogrand’s sons Adam (4) and Aron (1) and if all goes to plan, their mum can return home with her second IHF Women’s World Championship gold medal so they can both have their own.