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BIG DEBUT: Rikke Granlund dominated when he made his European Championship debut against Poland on Thursday. Photo: Bjørn Steinar Delebekk
KOLDING (VG) Rikke Granlund had to be 31 years old before he made his national team and championship debut. The Oslo goalkeeper has gone from fifth pick to success at the Euro. But it is far from certain that he will complete the championship.
Granlund laughs when VG asks him about his special development. The Norwegian Handball Association does not recall that they had an older debutant in the women’s national team. Granlund was 31 years and 11 days old when he finally made his debut against Denmark on November 25.
– I’ve had a development all the way. But I turned professional when I went to Denmark when I was 27 years old. He had a regular job next door when he played in Norway, he replies. Rikke Granlund was employed in the National Register of tax authorities until she went to the Danish champions, Esbjerg.
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There it has been successful as a second option. First behind the national team goalkeeper Sandra Toft. Now behind Rikke Poulsen. At the opening of the European Championship, she was number two again. But he came in after the break and delivered eight saves and a 47 percent. He gave 7 of 10 possible points on the VG trade.
– Rikke is a joker. She has been incredibly good at that role in Esbjerg, says Thorir Hergeirsson.
The national team coach announces that two of Norway’s super goalkeepers, Katrine Lunde and Silje Solberg, will arrive in Denmark on Saturday. Lunde after miscarriage and Solberg after crown disease. Hergeirsson says Granlund and Emily Stang Sando will face Germany on Saturday, but opens that there may be changes to the goalkeeping team even before Romania’s game on Monday. Hergeirsson can make two team changes already in group play.
ANNOUNCES CHANGES: Thorir Hergeirsson will make changes to the goalkeeping team during the European Championship. Here with Rikke Granlund, responsible goalkeeper Mats Olsson and Emily Stang Sando. Photo: Bjørn Steinar Delebekk
– The goalkeeping duo, including Rikke, are determined that the role may change during the championship, he says.
– My God, there have been a lot of good goalkeepers from national teams in Norway. The competition to enter has been very difficult. So I really haven’t figured it out. I’ve only focused on club handball, says Granlund, who made his way from the Bækkelaget kids’ club through Nordstrand, Halden and Oppsal before ending up in West Jutland.
– I have developed a lot in recent years here in Denmark playing in the Champions League and among the best, says the goalkeeper called “Bobbo” among friends. According to her, it has nothing to do with former great Bækkelaget goalkeeper Liv “Bobbo” Bjørk, who was named best goalkeeper at the World Cup in 1973.
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In October, Rikke Granlund was selected as one of six Norwegian goalkeepers on the gross team for the European Championship. Initially, Solberg, Lunde, Stang Sando and also last year’s World Cup goalkeeper Andrea Austmo Pedersen positioned themselves in front of her.
Now Katrine Lunde (40 years and 299 internationals) and Silje Solberg (30 years and 148 internationals) come to Kolding.
– It’s great to have a routine. I have that too at 31, but it’s not a routine for the national team. I’ll see what happens when they come. I contribute what I can, promises Rikke Granlund.
Kirsten Birkeland from the Norwegian Handball Association answers the following question if she is the oldest debutant in the national team:
– Unfortunately, we do not have a technical solution that can give us a clear answer to this, at least not with a short deadline. But we are pretty sure that there have been no senior debutants in the women’s handball team in recent times, that is, after 1986. With all reservations that we do something wrong here.
