Rejoicing among the German beach handball women: After their success at the World Cup, they can now also look forward to gold at the World Games.
At the World Games in the USA, the German women’s national team celebrated their third title win in 12 months. With a 2-0 win in the final against Norway, the DHB selection added another medal to their collection of medals after winning the European Championships and the World Championships as well as silver at the IHF Global Tour.
Like the World Cup final in Greece against Spain not even four weeks ago, everything in the final of the World Games in Birmingham (USA) depended on the last throw of the two sets – with a good ending for Germany.
The success story of the German women’s beach handball team has been enriched by a chapter within a very short time. “Winning gold at European Championships, World Championships and the World Games within a year is the Grand Slam of beach handball and simply a terrific achievement. We are very pleased about this development. I congratulate the players, the coaching staff and everyone involved on this success“, says Andreas Michelmann, President of the German Handball Federation.
Narrow win in the first set
In the first set, both nations acted absolutely at eye level. The first German lead only came with 8:6, but it remained completely balanced until 14:14 in the final minute. Novakovic called the time-out four seconds before the final whistle – and after the restart, Isabel Kattner steered the ball from the middle of the field with a one-point hit into the far corner to win the set 15:14.
In the second half, the German goalkeeper Katharina Filter caused the opposing players to despair several times, while her team advanced to 4:0. But Tonje Lerstad in the Scandinavians’ goal hardly let a ball through either, after six minutes it was 4:4. There was one set in which the goalkeepers excelled, after ten minutes the set was still undecided with a 8:8.
Golden goal made the DHB team cheer
The golden goal had to decide the outcome of the second round – and after misses on both sides, Amelie Möllmann ended the game with a lob and the DHB team scored the next crown with the goal to make it 9:8.
Coach Alexander Novakovic summed it up: “The feelings are still difficult to grasp, the World Cup victory was only 19 days ago and we can look back on a series of 25 victories in a row. It will take us many days to process this.“