Formidable France win third women’s world title

2023 IHF WOMEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

• France returned to the throne of women’s world handball for a third time, after earlier triumphs in 2003 and 2017; only Norway – their opponents in Sunday’s final – and Russia have won more titles, with four each
• the final in the sold-out Jyske Bank Arena in Herning was a 60-minute display of the best that women’s handball has to offer, featuring arguably the two strongest teams of the tournament
• in the final, Norway took an early lead (9:7) but France turned the tide before the break (20:17) and maintained their three-goal advantage in the second half: 31:28
• Léna Grandveau and Tamara Horacek both netted five times for France, while Nora Mørk’s eight goals were not enough for Norway to retain their title
• in head coach Olivier Krumbholz’s last World Championship, France opened their campaign with a shaky 30:29 win over Angola in the preliminary round, but then racked up eight more wins convincingly, including a 24:23 against Norway in their main round closer, and a 37:28 against Sweden in the semi-final
• Norway came through a breath-taking semi-final against Denmark only in extra time, 29:28, and thanks to a stunning 15-goal outing by Henny Reistad, who was eventually named the MVP of the tournament
• a year after finishing runners-up at the Women’s EHF EURO 2022, Denmark earned another piece of silverware, winning the bronze medal match against fellow co-hosts Sweden 28:27
• fifth-placed Netherlands won all their matches at the tournament by at least a three-goal margin – with one exception: the 30:23 defeat in the quarter-final against Norway kept them out of the medal ranks
• all playing positions in the All-star Team were occupied by players from the four semi-finalists, with France leading the way with three awardees; Czechia’s Markéta Jeřábková was the tournament’s top scorer with 63 goals

2023 IHF Women’s World Championship

- Final standings:

Gold – France
Silver – Norway
Bronze – Denmark
4th – Sweden
5th – Netherlands
6th – Germany
7th – Montenegro
8th – Czechia

Other European teams:
10th – Hungary, 11th – Slovenia, 12th – Romania, 13th – Spain, 14th – Croatia, 16th – Poland, 19th – Austria, 21st – Serbia, 23rd – Ukraine, 25th – Iceland

- All-Star team:

Goalkeeper – Laura Glauser (France)
Left wing – Chloé Valentini (France)
Left back – Estelle Nze Minko (France)
Centre back – Stine Oftedal (Norway)
Line player – Linn Blohm (Sweden)
Right back – Louise Burgaard (Denmark)
Right wing – Nathalie Hagman (Sweden)

MVP – Henny Reistad (Norway)
Top scorer – Markéta Jeřábková (Czechia) – 63 goals
Best young player – Viola Leuchter (Germany)

all photos courtesy of IHF