29.09.2016, 11:19
Nora Mørk: "My appetite for titles will never stop"

HEROES OF THE FINAL: Nora Mørk looks back on Norway’s triumph at the EHF EURO 2014 and explains why the Olympic bronze medal should remain only a short-lived absence from the very top

Nora Mørk: "My appetite for titles will never stop"

Nora Mørk has plays a considerable part in the fact that Norway enter the upcoming EHF EURO 2016 in Sweden as reigning European champions.

Crowning a stellar overall performance with seven goals, the 1.67m tall right back played her part in the EHF EURO 2014 Final in which Norway beat Spain 28:25 in Budapest and has been chosen as the final player to feature in ehf-euro.com’s “Heroes of the Final” series.

That victory gained Mørk the second of three gold medals overall the 25-year-old has already won with the national team, the other being European champion in 2010 and world champion in 2015.

However, she is far from done with aiming for more silverware. “My appetite for titles will never stop,” she says.

A tough final

Norway’s victory in the 2014 final was far away from being a walk in the park. Spain had been in the driving seat in the first half and taken a 12:10 lead 12:10 into the dressing rooms at half-time.

"I knew that it was still possible to win the match," Nora Mørk remembers. "After the break, we generally played better than we did in the first half. We outran our opponents and became better at making use of our opportunities to score."

At the EHF EURO 2014 Norway lost only one match on their way to the title – and this one defeat came at a time when the team’s semi-final berth was already a fact. In the last main round match Hungary beat Norway 29:25.

"We played at very high pace, and we were sufficiently trained to keep this high pace in every match throughout the tournament, and I think we showed our strong side in that tournament,” says Mørk who was named the championship’s All-star right back.

"It was the first time in my senior career that I was nominated for an All Star team, so this obviously meant a lot to me. In general, I think I played a good tournament, and my performances were consistent.

"I had a very central role in our team, and I received a lot of court time. This obviously increased my self-confidence."

Let’s do it again

The last medal to date Mørk won in her career came recently at the 2016 Olympics at which Norway finished third. However, bronze is never really good enough for Norway and the ambitious right back.

Therefore, she and her teammates have their minds firmly set on the EHF EURO 2016 in Sweden in December, and she makes no secret out of the fact that the bronze medal at Rio 2016 made the team even keener on going all the way to gold.

"We want to win and dream of winning each and every tournament we play.

"We are hungry for more titles, and my hunger for titles never stops, says the hard-shooting left-hander, who is looking very much forward to playing so close to her native Norway.

"It almost goes without saying that we are happy to play in Sweden. I’m sure we will have a lot of Norwegian fans cheering for us. I hope for a kind of home ground for us there," she says.

Norway will play in Helsingborg, facing Olympic champions Russia as well as Romania and Croatia in Group D. If they finish among the best three teams in that group and reach the main round, they will be facing the three best teams of Group C, containing Montenegro, Hungary, Denmark and the Czech Republic.

This path to the semi-finals does not exactly worry Mørk, but it still fills her with respect.

"I think our chances are really good. We have a very strong team, but so do some of the other nations of course.

"Anyway, we will of course do our utmost in the battle for the medals. We never get tired of winning titles!" she underlines once more.

TEXT: Peter Bruun / ts