After Tuesday’s bitter 2:4 defeat against China, Austria’s U18 women’s national team immediately showed up again at the 2026 IIHF Women’s U18 World Championship, Division IB. They celebrated an 11-0 win against Australia and took the lead in the table for the time being. In Katowice, Poland, head coach Arto Sieppi’s team continues against Spain on Saturday at 8:00 p.m.
The right answer at the right time. Against Australia, they not only got off to a dream start with a 2-0 lead after just 82 seconds played, but they continued to score goals almost every three minutes. After the first third with a 6-0 lead, a preliminary decision had been made.
In the middle third they continued to dominate the game and opponents, increasing to 7-0 through Vanessa Picka. In the final section, the superiority was once again clearly evident thanks to another four goals.
Head coach Arto Sieppi summed it up with corresponding satisfaction: “Three points that we’re happy to take. We’re very happy with how the players took up the challenge. They didn’t take the game lightly. We started the game with a lot of speed and were able to score early. Even though we only managed one goal in the middle third, the performance in the second half was okay. We continued to apply pressure and achieved a clear win in the end.”
2026 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 Women’s World Championship Division IB
- January 2026 – January 11, 2026, Katowice (POL)
Participant: Austria, Poland, Spain, China, Australia, Great Britain
Event website
Austria vs. Australia 11:0 (6:0, 1:0, 4:0)
Thursday, January 8, 2026, 1:00 p.m., Katowice
Goal scorers Austria: Johanna Sintschnig (2nd, 57th), Hanna Pap (2nd), Vanessa Picka (9th, 33rd), Emma Lintner (12th, 51st, 54th), Florentina Rumpl (14th), Amelie Suppan (19th), Leandra Pirker (52nd)
Game summary
Spain vs. Austria
Sat., January 10, 2026, 8:00 p.m., Katowice
Austria vs. Poland
Sun., January 11, 2026, 8:00 p.m., Katowice
Already played
Great Britain vs. Austria 0:4 (0:0, 0:2, 0:2)
Monday, January 5, 2026, 1:00 p.m., Katowice
Goal scorers Austriah: Florentina Rumpl (21st, 45th), Emma Lintner (32nd/PP, 59th)
Game summary
Austria vs. China 2:4 (0:1, 2:1, 0:2)
Tue, January 6, 2026, 1:00 p.m., Katowice
Goal scorers Austria: Vanessa Picka (38th), Florentina Rumpl (39th)
Goal scorers China: Yufei Xin (14th), Keyu Chen (26th), Mi Dai (42nd), Yifan Wang (44th)
Game summary
www.eishockey.at, Pic: FreitagsFotos / Manuel Freitag
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