The Ice Hockey World Championships is an annual event held by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). It was preceded by the European Championship which was held from 1910 to 1932. The first World Championship tournament was decided at the 1920 Summer Olympics. Subsequently, ice hockey was featured at the Winter Olympic Games, where the World Championship was decided when the two events occurred concurrently, until the 1968 Winter Olympics. The first three championships were contested at the Olympics, while the first World Championships that were an individual event were held in 1930.

The modern format for the World Championship features 16 teams in the championship group, 12 teams in Division I and 12 teams in Division II. If there are more than 40 teams, the rest compete in Division III. The teams in the championship play a preliminary and qualifying round, then the top eight teams play in the playoff medal round and the winning team is crowned World Champion. From the 1920 Olympics until the 1976 World Championships, only athletes designated as "amateur" were allowed to compete in the tournament. Because of this, players from the National Hockey League and its senior minor-league teams were not allowed to compete, while the Soviet Union was allowed to use permanent full-time players who were positioned as regular workers of an aircraft industry or tractor industry employer that sponsored what would be presented as an after-hours amateur social sports society team for their workers. In 1970, after an agreement to allow just a small number of its professionals to participate was rescinded by the IIHF, Canada withdrew from the tournament. Starting in 1977, professional athletes were allowed to compete in the tournament and Canada re-entered, using some NHL players from those teams that were not good enough to reach the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Following the conclusion of the 2026 edition, 89 tournaments have been staged. From 1920 to 1930, the Winter Olympic Games Ice Hockey Tournaments held counted as the World Championships and no tournaments in between were held. No championships were held from 1940 to 1946 due to World War II, nor during the Olympic years 1980, 1984 and 1988, nor in 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic. Ten national teams have won a gold medal at the World Championships, five more national teams have won medals. Canada has won 53 medals overall and 28 gold, the most of any nation. The Soviet Union, which began competing in the year of 1954 and last competed in 1991, captured a medal in each of 34 tournaments they entered. In winning the 2006 World Championships, Sweden became the first nation in ice hockey history to win an Olympic gold as well as a separate World Championship in the same season. In 2022, Finland repeated this achievement by winning the World Championships at home.

In 2023, one of the hosts Latvia earned the country's first medal, a bronze, with an overtime win against the United States. In 2026, Norway earned the country's first medal, a bronze, with an overtime win against Canada.

Champions Key     The Summer Olympic Games ice hockey tournament held that year counted as the World Championships (1 edition).  *  The Winter Olympic Games ice hockey tournament held that year counted as the World Championships (10 editions). Number of times when national team has reached corresponding place at the time (or number of tournaments hosted by city / country at the time). Second number indicates cumulative number of times when successor country and its predecessor per IIHF (Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia or unified Germany) has reached corresponding place at the time (or cumulative number of tournaments hosted by successor country and its predecessor at the time).

Year Gold Silver Bronze 4th place Host city / cities Host country / countries1920 Antwerp (1) (1)1924 * Chamonix (1) (1)1928 * St. Moritz (1) (1)1930Chamonix (2)Berlin (1)Vienna (1) (2) (1) (1)1931 Krynica (1) (1)1932 * Lake Placid (1) (1)1933 Prague (1) (1)1934 Milan (1) (1)1935 Davos (1) (2)1936 * Garmisch-Partenkirchen (1) (2)1937 London (1) (1)1938 Prague (2) (2)1939 Zürich (1) and Basel (1) (3)1940–1946Competitions not held because of World War II1947 Prague (3) (3)1948 * St. Moritz (2) (4)1949 Stockholm (1) (1)1950 London (2) (2)1951 Paris (1) (3)1952 * Oslo (1) and Drammen (1) (1)1953 Zürich (2) and Basel (2) (5)1954 Stockholm (2) (2)1955 Krefeld (1), Dortmund (1) and Cologne (1) (1/3)1956 * Cortina d'Ampezzo (1) (2)1957 Moscow (1) (1)1958 Oslo (2) (2)1959 Prague (4), Bratislava (1) and Ostrava (1) (4)1960 * Squaw Valley (1) (2)1961 Geneva (1) and Lausanne (1) (6)1962 Colorado Springs (1) and Denver (1) (3)1963 Stockholm (3) (3)1964 * Innsbruck (1) (2)1965 Tampere (1) (1)1966 Ljubljana (1) (1)1967 Vienna (2) (3)1968 * Grenoble (1) (4)1969 Stockholm (4) (4)1970 Stockholm (5) (5)1971 Bern (1) and Geneva (2) (7)1972 Prague (5) (5)1973 Moscow (2) (2)1974 Helsinki (1) (2)1975 Munich (1) and Düsseldorf (1) (2/4)1976 Katowice (1) (2)1977 Vienna (3) (4)1978 Prague (6) (6)1979 Moscow (3) (3)1980Competition not held during 1980 Olympics1981 Gothenburg (1) and Stockholm (6) (6)1982 Helsinki (2) and Tampere (2) (3)1983 Düsseldorf (2), Dortmund (2) and Munich (2) (3/5)1984Competition not held during 1984 Olympics1985 Prague (7) (7)1986 Moscow (4) (4)1987 Vienna (4) (5)1988Competition not held during 1988 Olympics1989 Stockholm (7) and Södertälje (1) (7)1990 Bern (2) and Fribourg (1) (8)1991 Turku (1), Helsinki (3) and Tampere (3) (4)1992 Prague (8) and Bratislava (2) (8)1993 Dortmund (3) and Munich (3) (3/6)1994 Bolzano (1), Canazei (1) and Milan (2) (3)1995 Stockholm (8) and Gävle (1) (8)1996 Vienna (5) (6)1997 Helsinki (4), Turku (2) and Tampere (4) (5)1998 Zürich (3) and Basel (3) (9)1999 Oslo (3), Lillehammer (1) and Hamar (1) (3)2000 Saint Petersburg (1) (1/5)2001 Cologne (2), Hanover (1) and Nuremberg (1) (4/7)2002 Gothenburg (2), Karlstad (1) and Jönköping (1) (9)2003 Helsinki (5), Tampere (5) and Turku (3) (6)2004 Prague (9) and Ostrava (2) (1/9)2005 Innsbruck (2) and Vienna (6) (7)2006 Riga (1) (1)2007 Moscow (5) and Mytishchi (1) (2/6)2008 Halifax (1) and Quebec City (1) (1)2009 Kloten (1) and Bern (3) (10)2010 Cologne (3), Mannheim (1) and Gelsenkirchen (1) (5/8)2011 Bratislava (3) and Košice (1) (1)2012 Helsinki (6) Stockholm (9) (7) (10)2013 Stockholm (10)Helsinki (7) (11) (8)2014 Minsk (1) (1)2015 Prague (10) and Ostrava (3) (2/10)2016 Moscow (6) and Saint Petersburg (2) (3/7)2017Cologne (4)Paris (2) (6/9) (5)2018 Copenhagen (1) and Herning (1) (1)2019 Bratislava (4) and Košice (2) (2)2020Competition cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic2021 Riga (2) (2)2022 Tampere (6) and Helsinki (8) (9)2023 Tampere (7)Riga (3) (10) (3)2024 Prague (11) and Ostrava (4) (3/11)2025 Stockholm (11)Herning (2) (12) (2)2026 Zürich (4) and Fribourg (2) (11)2027 Düsseldorf (3) and Mannheim (2) (7/10)2028 Paris (3) and Lyon (1) (6)2029 Bratislava (5) and Košice (3) (3)2030 Helsinki (9)Riga (4) (11) (4)

Medal table

National teams in italics no longer compete at the World Championships.

Rank National teamGoldSilverBronze Total 1 28 16 9 53 2 / 27 10 10 47 3 / 13 13 22 48 4 11 19 19 49 5 5 9 3 17 6 3 9 9 21 7 1 2 2 5 8 1 2 1 4 9 0 6 8 14 10 / 0 3 2 5 11 0 0 2 2 12 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1Totals (16 nations) 89 89 89 267

Most successful players Boldface denotes active ice hockey players and highest medal count among all players (including these who not included in these tables) per type. "Position" denotes player position on the hockey rink (D – defenceman; F – forward; G – goaltender).

Multiple gold medalists Rank Player Country Position From To Gold Silver BronzeTotal 1 Vladislav Tretiak G 1970 1983 10 2 1 13 2 Alexander Ragulin D 1961 1973 10 1 1 12 3 Alexander Maltsev F 1969 1983 9 2 1 12 4 Vladimir Petrov F 1969 1981 9 1 1 11 5 Vyacheslav Starshinov F 1961 1971 9 – 1 10 6 Vitali Davydov D 1963 1971 9 – – 9 7 Valeri Kharlamov F 1969 1979 8 2 1 11 Vladimir Lutchenko D 1969 1979 8 2 1 11 Boris Mikhailov F 1969 1979 8 2 1 11 Valeri Vasiliev D 1970 1982 8 2 1 11

Multiple medalists The table shows players who have won at least 11 medals in total at the World Championships.

Rank Player Country Position From To Gold Silver BronzeTotal 1 Vladislav Tretiak G 1970 1983 10 2 1 13 2 Jiří Holík F 1964 1977 3 6 4 13 3 Alexander Ragulin D 1961 1973 10 1 1 12 4 Alexander Maltsev F 1969 1983 9 2 1 12 5 Vladimir Petrov F 1969 1981 9 1 1 11 6 Valeri Kharlamov F 1969 1979 8 2 1 11 Vladimir Lutchenko D 1969 1979 8 2 1 11 Boris Mikhailov F 1969 1979 8 2 1 11 Valeri Vasiliev D 1970 1982 8 2 1 11 10 Sergei Makarov F 1978 1991 8 1 2 11 11 Viacheslav Fetisov D 1977 1991 7 1 3 11 12 Veniamin Alexandrov F 1957 1968 6 3 2 11 13 Ivan Hlinka F 1970 1981 3 5 3 11 Oldřich Machač D 1968 1978 3 5 3 11 Vladimír Martinec F 1970 1981 3 5 3 11

Best performers by country Here are listed most successful players in the history of each of 15 medal-winning national teams – according to the gold-first ranking system and by total number of World Championships medals (one player if he holds national records in both categories or few players if these national records belongs to different persons). If the total number of medals is identical, the gold, silver and bronze medals are used as tie-breakers (in that order). If all numbers are the same, the players get the same placement and are sorted by the alphabetic order.

Country Player Position From To Gold Silver BronzeTotal Vladislav Tretiak G 1970 1983 10 2 1 13 David Výborný F 1996 2006 5 1 2 8 Jiří Holík F 1964 1977 3 6 4 13 Jonas Bergqvist(by the gold-first ranking system) F 1986 1998 3 3 1 7 Sven "Tumba" Johansson(by total number of medals) F 1952 1965 3 2 4 9 Alexander Ovechkin F 2005 2019 3 2 4 9 Mikael Granlund(by the gold-first ranking system) F 2011 2026 3 1 – 4 Ville Peltonen(by total number of medals) F 1994 2008 1 4 3 8 Eric Brewer(by the gold-first ranking system) D 2003 2007 3 – – 3 Shane Doan &Dany Heatley(by total number of medals) F 2003 2009 2 3 – 5 Gordon Dailley F/D 1935 1938 1 2 1 4 Gerry Davey Miroslav Šatan F 2000 2012 1 2 1 4 John Garrison &John Mayasich(by the gold-first ranking system) D/FF/D 19321956 19361962 11 11 11 33 Allen Van(by total number of medals) D 1939 1952 – 3 1 4 Nino Niederreiter(by the gold-first ranking system) F 2013 2026 – 5 – 5 Richard "Bibi" Torriani(by total number of medals) F 1928 1948 – 1 5 6 Gustav Jaenecke F/D 1930 1934 – 1 2 3 Walter Leinweber G Erich Römer D/F 16 players D, F, G 1953 1953 – 1 – 1 Fritz Demmer F 1931 1947 – – 2 2 27 players D, F, G 2023 2023 – – 1 1 27 players D, F, G 2026 2026 – – 1 1

See also List of IIHF World Championship directorate award winners List of IIHF World Junior Championship medalists IIHF World Women's Championship 4 Nations Cup List of ice hockey players who won the Olympic Gold and the IIHF Championship Ice hockey at the Olympic Games

Notes

References

General

External links International Ice Hockey Federation Medal table and alternative medal table