Norway have won for the Women’s European Championship title for the third consecutive time.
After winning the championship in 1998, 2004 and 2005 they have again retained their EURO title in Skopje.
The final initially promised much, Norway only narrowly in the lead at half time, but Norway ran away with it in the second half, recording a clear vistory, 34:21 (13:12).
Spanish lead
The Spanish team was tactically very well prepared and managed to cut the famous Norwegian counter attacks at the beginning of the match.
The very same tactic that had defeated the Russian’s the day before.
To the surprise of the some hundred Northern European spectators Spain went in lead right from the off, taking the score to 6:3 and 8:5 (in the 17th minute).
But as the Norwegian defence improved and prevented the Spanish from scoring, the title holder edged closer and equalized.
Turning point
Scoring five goals in a row, the Norwegians turned the match.
The number of mistakes in the Spanish attack increased and the Norwegians punished them on the counter attack.
The Norwegians came out fighting after the break, pushing ahead to 17:12
But right after break Norway went away with 19:14 in the 42nd minute and the Spanish lacked a reply.
Even a team time out by the Spanish coach Jorge Cuenas failed to bring about a change.
Quite the reverse, Norway’s Kari Mete Johanssen scored twice on the break, increasing the gap to a decisive nine goals.
Norway hit 10 with the score at 26:16 and all but finished the Spaniards off.
Making history
Linn-Kristin Riegelhuth scored six times becoming the top scorer of the tournament with 51 goals ahead of Grit Jurack (Germany/46).
Best scorers in the final were Begona Fernandez and Martha Mangue (each 4) and Tonje Noestvold (Norway/7).
One final note for the history books, the match was the first EURO final to be refereed by a female pair, Tetyana Rakytina and Irina Tkachuk from Ukraine.
