Spain are one match away from another Women’s IHF World Championship final. Having lost the 2019 gold medal match to Netherlands, the hosts reached the semi-finals of the 2021 edition by beating Germany 26:21.
Next up for Spain are European champions Norway, who beat Russia 34:28.
Norway are one of the three EHF EURO 2020 semi-finalists that have made it through to the last four again. The other semi-final on Friday features France and Denmark. The Olympic champions ended Sweden’s run (31:26) while Denmark eliminated Brazil, the only non-European contenders in the quarter-final, 30:25.
Spain are the only team still in the race for the title who have not been world champions before: Norway (1999, 2011, 2015), France (2003, 2017) and Denmark (1997) have all lifted the trophy at least once in the past.
All four teams are unbeaten in the competition: Norway were the only ones to drop a point along the way (30:30 draw against Sweden in the main round) but the other teams have won all seven matches so far.
Denmark vs Brazil 30:25 (14:13)
Who else than goalkeeper Sandra Toft could have (again) been awarded player of the match? The best goalkeeper of the World Championship so far saved 17 shots of Brazil. The South American champions were a hard nut to crack in the first 40 minutes. But Denmark conceded just five goals between minutes 38 and 58 to pave their way to their first World Championship semi-final since 2013. Simone Petersen (five goals) and Lærke Nolsøe (six) were Denmark’s leading scorers.
Spain vs Germany 26:21 (14:10)
Three players were keys for the Spanish success: Goalkeeper Mercedes Castellanos, top scorer Carmen Campos (seven goals) and the player of the match, Paula Arcos. Germany had the better start and led 5:1 and 7:3 to calm down the arena in Granollers, but when the number of their mistakes increased, Spain hit back with a decisive 11:3 run in the last 14 minutes of the first half. Germany got back to within two goals (19:17) but the victory for Spain never got in danger.
Norway vs Russia 34:28 (19:15)
Four months after their semi-final defeat at the Tokyo Olympics, Norway turned the tables and beat Russia – and maintain their chance to match Russia’s record of four world titles. Steered by current IHF Player of the Year, Stine Oftedal, and led by nine goals from Nora Mørk, the EHF EURO champions did not leave any doubt about the outcome of the quarter-final. When Norway had a 4:0 run to go 26:20 up, the Russian resistance was broken. While Norway enter their 13th semi-final at World Championships, Russia have finished eighth, their weakest result since 1999.
France vs Sweden 31:26 (15:15)
Until minute 33 and the score level at 17:17, Sweden were hoping for a different outcome compared to their Olympic semi-final they lost to France last August. But the Tokyo 2020 gold medallists played with power and cleverness as a highly efficient 5:0 run gave them a commanding 22:17 lead. When Méline Nocandy, one of 11 French players on the score sheet, netted for 29:25, France knew that would advance to their fifth World Championship semi-final. France have won all seven matches, a sharp contrast to Japan 2019 when they were the reigning European champions but went out in the preliminary round.
Some consolation for Sweden: Nathalie Hagman netted nine times to raise her tally to 71 and all but secure the top scorer’s title, leading the ranking by no less than 36 goals from the best scorer still in the competition, Spain’s Alexandrina Barbosa.
