Denmark secured their spot in the men’s final of the 2016 Olympic Games with a one-goal victory against Poland decided in extra time, which represents a historic result for the Scandinavian nation as it is their first ever final in the male category. 

The outcome of the semi-final means that all four Rio 2016 finalists, in both the men’s and women’s competitions, earned their place in the gold-medal match thanks to one crucial goal – and all were decided in the final seconds of the respective games. 

Future Arena, Friday 19 August
Semi-final: Poland vs Denmark 28:29 (25:25)(15:16)

Denmark were much stronger initially, recording a 3:0 run through the opening four minutes before Poland added their first to the score board off Mariusz Jurkiewicz. Jurkiewicz was responsible for the next two Polish strikes, which took the score to 3:4 in the ninth when he scored a long-range goal into the empty Danish goal as Henrik Toft Hansen was off for two minutes and Niklas Landin therefore sat on the bench as coach Gudmundur Gudmundsson brought in an additional attacker. 

Midway through the half however, Denmark had regained a substantial lead at 8:5 as Poland coach Talant Dujshebaev called his first time-out and changed starting goalkeeper Slawomir Szmal for Piotr Wyszomirski. His team returned to the court to record a 4:1 run that turned their three-goal deficit into a level game at 9:9. When Michal Daszek scored the equalising goal on a fast break in the 19th Denmark coach Gudmundsson responded with a time-out, and again the coach who called the pause was rewarded. 

Through the next five minutes Denmark created an advantage at 15:11, before Poland claimed control and kept Denmark from scoring through till the final minute of the half. Goals from Przemyslaw Krajewski, Karol Bielecki and Daszek allowed Poland to equalise at 15:15 at a crucial point ahead of the break, before Kasper Sondergaard added one for Denmark that meant they held a one-goal lead at the whistle. 

When the match resumed it was a consistently level contest, with Poland claiming the advantage despite a suspension for Mateusz Kus. In the 36th Krzysztof Lijewski took them in front by two at 19:17, but Mikkel Hansen answered and the one-goal difference remained for some time. Within one minute on either side of the 37th, the goalkeepers put on an impressive display of how to save the most difficult shots, as Wyszomirski stopped a fast break off Casper Mortensen before Landin saved a penalty from Bielecki. 

Wyszomirski halted Denmark’s progress in the next attack also, saving Lasse Svan’s attempt from left wing to record a 52% save rate for the 25 minutes he had been on court. By the 45-minute mark Denmark had taken back the narrow advantage at 20:19, and as the last 10 minutes of the match began the score was level at 21:21. 

At the 55-minute mark it remained an equal match at 23:23, after which Wyszomirski made his 17th save converted into a goal by line player Kamil Syprzak to earn Poland a one-goal lead with a little over three minutes left. Sondergaard levelled and with just over 30 seconds remaining Denmark took the advantage at 25:24 thanks to a penalty goal from Mikkel Hansen. Poland held possession as the clock ticked menacingly down, and the match was sent into extra time when Daszek scored an incredible ground shot that equalised the score right before the buzzer.  

Denmark dominated the first period of extra time, leading 29:26 at the end of the first five minutes. In the second period both goalkeepers made the task difficult for their opposing shooters and Denmark could not find the goal at all. Poland scored two, from Lijewski and Bielecki, but those goals were not enough to level again and at the 70-minute whistle it was Denmark who celebrated a one-goal victory that secured their final berth.