U18 World Cup Women: Austria remains in the title race after beating Spain 8-0!

The latter in particular is probably only a faint hope after the performances of the Chinese so far. They have only lost a point in the tournament so far in the 4:3 win after extra time over Poland and also won the direct duel against Austria 4:2. And for the ÖEHV selection, a victory over Poland is anything but set in stone. The hosts suffered their only defeat in the tournament so far against China.

In any case, they regained their self-confidence for the final game. Against Spain they controlled the target and opponents and led 2-0 after the first third thanks to goals from Vanessa Picka and Emma Lintner. In the middle third Britta Bachler increased the score to 3-0. In these 20 minutes they could have forced a preliminary decision, but saved that for a brilliant final phase.

In the last seven minutes of the game they scored a goal almost every minute and ended up winning 8-0. A well-deserved victory at this level, given the way the game went and Austria’s clear dominance.

Head coach Arto Sieppi: “The team took up the challenge brilliantly. We were favorites in this game and it is never easy to survive in this role. We controlled the game, led 2-0 after the first third, although we missed a few chances in the second, but things went almost perfectly in the final period. We are now looking forward to the final game against Poland.”

2026 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 Women’s World Championship Division IB

January 5, 2026 – January 11, 2026, Katowice (POL)
Participants: Austria, Poland, Spain, China, Australia, Great Britain
Event website

Spain vs. Austria 0:8 (0:2, 0:1, 0:5)
Sat., January 10, 2026, 8:00 p.m., Katowice
Goal scorers Austria: Vanessa Picka (7th), Emma Lintner (17th, 54th, 59th), Britta Bachler (24th), Florentina Rumpl (54th, 55th/PP), Emma Kleinlercher (58th/PP)
Game summary

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 Austria: 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

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