Denmark is in the final of the Handball World Championship. After 2019 and 2021, coach Jacobsen's team wants to win gold again. The task should not be a walk in the park. France is waiting for the Danes as the final opponent.
After reaching the World Cup final, the Danish handball players stormed towards Niklas Landin and hopped across the floor arm in arm with their outstanding goalkeeper. "It's fantastic, we're in the final for the third time in a row. That's huge," said national coach Nikolaj Jacobsen after the Danes' 26:23 (15:10) in the semifinals against runner-up Spain.
Thanks to the saves by the keeper from THW Kiel, Denmark is only one step away from the historic World Cup hat-trick. After 2019 and 2021, Denmark could become the first country to conquer the crown of the handball world for the third time in a row. "Now our focus is on getting that damn third gold medal," said Jacobsen.
The final opponent is none other than the record world champion: France beat co-hosts and European champions Sweden in front of 19,128 spectators in the Tele2 Arena in Stockholm 31:26 (16:12) and can win on Sunday (8:30 p.m. / Eurosport ) at the same place for the seventh (!) Time to put on the World Cup crown.
France's key to success was impressive pace. Nikola Karabatic, Dika Mem and Co. had already gained a small cushion before the break. Flensburg's Jim Gottfridsson, who broke his left hand in the quarterfinals against Egypt, hoped in vain to catch up after the break in the stands with a blue cast around his arm.
The Danes didn't give a damn beforehand in Gdansk and were ahead from the first minute. In attack, superstar Mikkel Hansen and Co. kept a cool head, even when Spain came within a goal twelve minutes before the end. Landin repeatedly defused decisive balls at the back, and the keeper of THW Kiel also parried the last Spanish seven-meter penalty 45 seconds before the end at a score of 25:23.
With that, Denmark continued their super series and remained undefeated in the 27th World Cup game in a row - under Jacobsen the northern Europeans have not lost a single World Cup game. In the new edition of the semifinals in 2021, 22-year-old Simon Pytlick became the best Danish thrower with six goals.
The game between Denmark and Spain was carefully controlled by the German referee team Robert Schulze and Tobias Tönnies. The people of Magdeburg, who refereed the European Championship final between Sweden and Spain (27:26) in Budapest last year, also impressed with their calm and confident manner in several video proofs.
"They're playing well," judged expert Pascal Hens on the Eurosport microphone in the heated final phase. DHB referee chief Jutta Ehrmann-Wolf described Schulze/Tönnies' fifth appearance at the current World Cup as "an award for the entire German refereeing system and an incentive for young people to get involved as referees".
