The 2025 IHF Women’s Handball World Championship final on Sunday ends the sport’s international championships in 2025. Denmark reached the quarterfinals, where France was clearly better than a Danish women’s national team that was hit by cancellations from several experienced players.<\/p>\n
It is extremely difficult to compare sporting results, both nationally and internationally. This is primarily due to methodological challenges: How should international competitions \u2013 European and World Championships, World Cups, Grand Slam tournaments in tennis, Grand Tours in cycling or Formula 1 in motorsport \u2013 be compared? How should the weighting of medals of different carats (gold, silver and bronze) be in relation to top 6, top 8 or top 10 rankings? How should sports with many disciplines such as athletics, rowing, cycling and swimming be compared with sports with only one discipline such as handball and ice hockey. And how should sports with extreme capital and media interests such as football and golf be assessed in relation to sports such as synchronized swimming and mountain bike orienteering?<\/p>\n
Both the Danish Institute for Sports and international analysis and research institutions, such as SPLISS, use World Championship medals and top 8 rankings in Olympic sports as the best indicators of sporting success or failure. In 2025, Danish athletes and teams won a total of 11 World Championship medals (2-1-8) and achieved 113 top 8 ranking points in Olympic sports, which is at the same level as in the last two Olympiads (2017-2020: 9 medals and 118 top 8 ranking points \u2013 2021-2024: 10 medals and 116 top 8 ranking points).<\/p>\n
Cycling \u2013 back on the medal track after disappointing 2024 Olympics<\/strong><\/p>\n In my opinion, the best Danish sporting achievements in 2025 were achieved in cycling, handball, sailing and equestrian. Cycling has achieved impressive results on both road, BMX and track after a very disappointing 2024 Olympics, with the 4 km team’s World Championship gold as the highlight. Also, World Championship bronze medals for Amalie Didriksen in omnium and Lasse Norman Leth and Niklas Larsen in Madison, Magnus Dyhre’s 6th place in BMX at the World Championships and Mattias Skjelmose’s 4th place at the World Championships in Rwanda should create great optimism towards the 2028 Olympics. Finally, Mads Pedersen’s top finishes in the classics Tour of Flanders (no. 2), Paris-Roubaix (no. 3) and Gent-Wevelgem (no. 1), and the victory of Jonas Vingegaards in Vuelta a Espan\u00e2 and second place in the Tour de France should also be mentioned among cycling’s successes in 2025. Cycling is the sport that has won by far the most Olympic and World Championship medals, top 8 ranking points and many victories in Grand Tours and classic races over the past decade.<\/p>\n Five top 8 rankings at the World Championships \u2013 the highest number for sailing in two decades<\/strong><\/p>\n Anne-Marie Rindom, who won Olympic silver in 2024, has been the \u201ctrump card\u201d in Danish sailing for the past decade, but fortunately, new Olympic sailors and a single \u201ccomeback kid\u201d showed surprisingly good World Championships results in 2025. 46-year-old Jonas Warrer, who won Olympic gold in Beijing 2008, and his new partner – Mathias Sletten – won WC bronze medals, while Anna Munch was No. 4 in ILCA. In addition, three crews achieved top 8 rankings at the World Championships in 49s FX and 49s. Five World Championships top 8 rankings are the highest number for Danish sailing in two decades, which promises well for Olympic results in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n Historical record of the men\u2019s handball team with four WC gold medals in a row<\/strong><\/p>\n In my opinion, the most superb sporting performance of the year in 2025 was delivered by the men\u2019s handball team, who were not seriously pressured in one of the 9 matches of the World Championship tournament. Denmark thus made history with four WC titles in a row (2019, 2021, 2023 and 2025) and thus caught up with France with 13 WC medals (6-2-5) and Sweden with 12 WC medals (4-4-4). The number of Danish world-class players has never been greater than today, so there is nothing to indicate that the rain of medals for the men\u2019s handball team will stop in the coming years.<\/p>\n Three European Championship medals in dressage <\/strong><\/p>\n In recent years, Denmark has also achieved top international results in dressage, including team gold at the World Championships in 2022. At the FEI 2025 European Dressage Championships, Danish equipages also showed high class in a sport that is completely dominated by European nations. The team won European Championship bronze, while Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour came very close to winning gold medal in the two individual disciplines (special and freestyle).<\/p>\n Very disappointing performances in football<\/strong><\/p>\n In my opinion, the biggest sporting disappointments of the year in Danish elite sports have been the national football team, both the women’s and especially the men’s. The women’s national team lost all three preliminary matches at the UEFA Women’s Euro 2025, while the men’s team (no. 21 – World Ranking) failed to qualify directly for the FIFA World Cup 2026 after a draw against Belarus (no. 99 – WR) at home and a 2-4 defeat against Scotland (no. 36 – WR). However, Denmark still has the opportunity to qualify for the final round in the USA, Mexico and Canada if they manage to defeat North Macedonia (no. 65 – WR), Ireland (no. 59 – WR) or the Czech Republic (no. 44 – WR) in March 2026. Next summer’s World Cup 2026 will include 48 nations for the first time – if Denmark does not qualify, it will be a gigantic failure.<\/p>\n The biggest positive surprise of the year: Victory over the world’s strongest ice hockey nation<\/strong><\/p>\n Let’s end with the biggest positive surprise in Danish elite sports: Denmark’s impressive World Championship semi-final in ice hockey. The WC tournament on home ground was a fantastic success, both on the ice and around the Jyske Bank Boxen in Herning. Victories over Kazakhstan, Hungary, Norway and Germany gave them a ticket to the quarterfinals against the world’s most winning ice hockey nation: Canada. 12,000 spectators \u2013 all in red and white \u2013 created a euphoric atmosphere and Denmark sensationally beat the favorites from Canada 2-1. The strength had run out and Denmark had no chance, both against Switzerland in the semi-final and Sweden in the bronze medal match. I look forward to following Denmark in two months at the 2026 Olympics in Milan, where Denmark will meet the USA, Germany and Latvia in the preliminary round.<\/p>\n I hereby wish everyone in Danish and international elite sports a very good new (sports) year and thank you for many good experiences in 2025.<\/p>\n Sources:<\/p>\n