Seven talking points after the preliminary round

These are the personal talking points of EHF journalist Courtney Gahan, who has been based in Celje for the preliminary round and will be covering the remaining of the EHF EURO from Ljubljana.

Courtney also shares her personal experience every other day with her readers in her EHF EURO newsletter (subscribe here): "I am very excited to be bringing you all the details that combine with the fiery on-court action to deliver the thrill-ride that is the Women's EHF EURO."

Co-hosts rise to the occasion

It was great to see the co-hosts enjoy the preliminary rounds on their home courts so much — and they all took advantage of the situation to essentially reach the highest level that could be hoped for considering the teams’ three differing CVs.

Montenegro had outstanding performances on the home court and carried the maximum points to the main round. Slovenia reached the main round for the first time since 2004 and brought two points with them to boot. North Macedonia, who had not played an EHF EURO for 10 years and last reached the main round in 2008, had some tough challenges against Olympic champions France, 2019 world champions the Netherlands and EHF EURO 2018 semi-finalists Romania, but put on a solid show on their return to the event.

It was an emotional evening as the curtain closed on Montenegro's role in the EHF EURO 2022, with the competition now continuing in Skopje and Ljubljana. I've long enjoyed seeing the level of passion in the Montenegro team, which they know how to use so well to win matches, and they did a superb job feeding off the energy in Moraca. I'm sure they won the hearts of every handball fan — they certainly won mine even more than they already had. 

Individual cap and goal records

After the Women's EHF EURO 2022 preliminary round, we have a new record holder for most matches played — now Norway goalkeeper Katrine Lunde, with 55 games at the event. Another goalkeeper became the new leader in Denmark’s all-time caps record at the EHF EURO: Denmark’s Sandra Toft.

In the co-hosts Slovenia’s camp, captain Ana Gros became the new all-time top scorer at the EHF EURO for her side, with 83 goals now. Gros is also inching her way up the list of all-time caps for Slovenia at the EURO and will take first place so long as she plays all main round matches.

What a pleasure to see these three legends of their national teams reach these milestones! And I was lucky enough to have both Gros and Toft in 'my' group in Celje, so witnessed the history first-hand. Now, I look forward to seeing Lunde in action as well, as all of us move on to the group I matches in Ljubljana. 

High scorers in their last EHF EURO

The second top scorer at the end of the preliminary round is Montenegro captain and right wing Jovanka Radicevic, who is one behind Germany’s Alina Grijseels (21 goals). After now 188 international appearances for Montenegro overall, and 38 at the EURO — the most for Montenegro — Radicevic has confirmed she will retire after the 2022 edition. 

The game against Poland was therefore her last on the home court, and Radicevic put on the show of her life. She scored 12 goals and reached 20 goals overall at an incredibly high accuracy rate of 87.98 per cent. But what came after the final whistle was evern more special: the player of the match award, huge banners with 'hvala Joka' and many tears, and I can confirm the tears were not only on court in Moraca!

'Joka' is such a warm and friendly person that many in our media team, including myself, have had memorable personal interactions with her, so seeing her have this wonderful moment was very special. No wonder she is such a legend for Montenegro and in the game overall. 

The all-time top scorer of the Women's EHF EURO, Romanian star Cristina Neagu, scored 18 goals in the preliminary round, taking her overall tally in the event to 282. Neagu has the chance to add more as her team enter the main round. If she can repeat the same performance as the preliminary round, she will reach the magical 300-goal mark in what she has confirmed will be her last EHF EURO. My fingers are crossed that she gets to bow out with this milestone. 

Teams with major milestones

Denmark became the second team to have played 100 EHF EURO matches in round 2, which they celebrated with a victory over Serbia that was so decisive it secured their place in the main round, although they only counted two points in their account at that point.

Hungary will follow suit in the main round, as they started the EHF EURO with 94 games under their belt.

Norway were the only team to have reached 100 matches before this tournament, and during the preliminary round they set another record: passing the 3,000-goal mark at the event. Meanwhile, Hungary passed the 2,500-goal mark in their opener and Montenegro passed 1,000 EURO goals in round 2.

Very often, players do not care much about milestone matches like this, but centre back Mie Højlund was pleased to hear about this history as she shared her thoughts with me after the game:

"It’s big for us. It shows that handball has been a big part of Denmark for a long time and we love to play this sport in Denmark. It’s just a big to be here and play the 100th game here. It's a big step in history for us."

Croatia back up 2020 performance

Croatia have proven they are no one-hit wonder. Time will tell whether they can book back-to-back places in the semi-finals, but after two 16^th-place finishes in a row in 2016 and 2018, and two 13^th-place rankings in 2012 and 2014, the fact they have returned the main round shows they have reached a new level. It's great to have a top new contender on the scene!

Individually, Valentina Blazevic recorded one of the best assist averages (six) in the first three games.

Most exciting discovery: Mia Emmenegger

As her team made their debut at the EHF EURO, Switzerland’s 17-year-old wing Mia Emmenegger stole the show. She was one of the top scorers of the stage, with 17 goals; recorded the fourth-fastest sprint at 28.48 km/h; ran the furthest out of all players, with a total distance of 15.93 km; and played the most, with two hours and 55 minutes.

Emmenegger came to the spotlight in 2021 when she was named in the W17 EHF EURO All-star Team and also played the W19 EHF EURO. Now, Emmenegger has made it clear she can have an impact on the open-age stage as well. I look forward to following her in the years to come and I am sure we will be seeing her featuring more prominently on the club level in the near future. 

Poland end eight-year wait for win — but say goodbye

Poland had not won an EHF EURO match since 2014. They came close in 2020, as they drew 21:21 with Germany in the preliminary round.

In Podgorica, the team finally ended the wait to taste victory on the EURO court, as they overcame Spain after a memorable late comeback, snagging two points. But in the end, it was not enough to take them through to the main round, as the group saw one of the closest races for the next stage ever — had Germany scored one less goal against Spain in the last game for group D, Poland would have been through in their place.

It was wonderful to see them have this joyous moment with the win, and then heartbreaking to see how the maths worked out against them in the end — but that is one of the parts that makes the EHF EURO such a rollercoaster ride and I wouldn't have it any other way.