Paris 2024 | Norway dominate Denmark to progress to first Olympics final since 2012

Norway returned to the final of the women’s handball competition at the Olympic Games for the first time since London 2012, with a dominating defensive display against Denmark, 25:21, securing another medal for the sixth consecutive edition in the competition.

PARIS 2024 OLYMPIC GAMES
SEMI-FINALS
Norway vs Denmark 25:21 (11:8)

When two top defences collide, the match is due to be a close one, with a low number of goals scored. Add two fantastic goalkeepers, a big Scandinavian rivalry and the pressure of a semi-final at the Olympic Games, and you have a perfect setting for a handball classic.

Norway had already won against Denmark, 27:18, in the preliminary round, and had previously mastered the art of a comeback against their Scandinavian rivals in the EHF EURO 2022 final and in the 2023 IHF Women’s World Championship semi-finals, making them the favourites for this match.

But Denmark are no pushovers themselves and in spite of those losses, were determined to give a hard time to Norway. Yet after 10 minutes, it was Norway which had the upper hand, 4:1, with a fantastic start from goalkeeper Katrine Lunde leading yet another fantastic defensive performance from the reigning European champions.

Only after Denmark’s goalkeeper, Althea Reinhardt, started to get in the groove, Jesper Jensen’s side finally woke up. They tied the score, 4:4, after Reinhardt’s amazing saves, and the two teams started trading goals and misses, with the score closely tied. Two suspensions in the first 12 minutes of the match for Henny Reistad, the 2023 IHF Female World Player of the Year, did not help Norway. But eventually, they took control of the match.

Those suspensions forced coach Thorir Hergeirsson to replace Reistad on defence, but Norway continued to deliver a fantastic performance in attack when they used their line player, Kari Brattset Dale, the MVP of the 2021 IHF Women’s World Championship, who finished the first half with four goals.

By stopping Denmark’s attack in the last six minutes and 33 seconds of the first half, Norway used a 3:0 run to open a 11:8 lead at the break, as Denmark had a mountain to climb, in front of the most experienced team in the competition, with an average squad age of 32.1 years old.

It went from bad to worse for Denmark, which were eyeing to return for the Olympics final for the first time since Athens 2004, but their attack completely failed in the second half, finishing with a 55% shooting efficiency, even if coach Jesper Jensen deployed a seven-on-six attack for most of the second part of the match.

Once again, Lunde was absolutely fantastic between the posts, with 10 saves and a 37% saving efficiency, constantly hampering Denmark in one-on-one situations, while Norway managed to score some easy goals via fast breaks or open goal shots, when Reinhardt failed to return in time between the posts.

At one point, Norway led by as many as seven goals, and from that moment on it was game over for Denmark, as they could simply not match the reigning European champions, who had 11 of their outfield players score at least one goal, with the leader being Brattset Dale, with four goals, all in the first half.

Eventually, Denmark made the last moments of the match more exciting, but it was too little, too late, as Norway still had a three-goal lead with two minutes to go, 23:20, and went on to win the match, 25:21, their second win in 10 days against Denmark at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
 
Norway are now in the final at the Olympics for the fourth time in history – at Seoul 1988, when they won silver, the format did not include a knockout round – and secured their eighth medal in the competition and their sixth one in a row, proving once again they are one of the best teams in the world.

They will meet France on Saturday, the rematch of the last two finals of the IHF Women’s World Championship, with the hosts taking the last one, in 2023, while Norway won in 2021. 

Denmark will try to secure the bronze, when they meet Sweden, adding to their collection of medals with this generation, which is still lacking a gold in major international competitions.