Right back Mathias Gidsel, world champion with Denmark, was elected best world player of the year 2023 and Léna Grandveau, revelation of the World Cup won by the Bleues, best young player among women, the International Federation announced on Friday handball.
Gidsel, aged 25, was voted best player of the 2023 World Cup won by the Danes, winners in the final in Stockholm of the France team (34-29). He also finished top scorer in the competition and, that year, won the European League, the second continental club competition, with Berlin. Gidsel, crowned for the first time, succeeds his compatriot Niklas Landin, elected best player in the world 2021 – the title had not been awarded for 2022.
Among women, the Norwegian Henny Reistad was elected best player in the world 2023 after reaching the World Cup final, beaten in Herning (Denmark) by the French (31-28) of Léna Grandveau. The 21-year-old Nantes player scored the last four goals for Les Bleues in this final, in an unusual right-back position (she usually plays center half) at the conclusion of a competition where she punctured the screen. Among the men, the title of best young person of the year 2023 was awarded to center half from Kiel (Germany) Elias Ellefsen a Skipagotu (21 years old), top scorer of the Junior World Cup and who helped qualify the Faroe Islands for their first A competition, Euro 2024.