"VAN" (Sports Desk - 21.08.2026) :: Newcastle, Australia will host the second edition of the Women’s World Championships this November, World Para Ice Hockey (WPIH) announced on Friday.
Six teams will take part in the tournament, with five already confirmed: the United States, Canada, Norway, Great Britain and Australia. The sixth available spot is reserved for a national team to register by 15 September. If no team comes forward, it will be allocated to Team World, composed of players from nations without a women’s national team.
The 2026 Women’s World Championships will run from 24 to 29 November at the Hunter Ice Skating Stadium. Teams will be split into two groups of three, with the top two in each group advancing to the semifinals.
The tournament in Newcastle follows the successful inaugural edition staged in Dolny Kubin, Slovakia last year, marking a crucial milestone in the development of women’s Para ice hockey and a key step towards future inclusion in the Paralympic Winter Games programme.
Para ice hockey has been an open-gender sport at the Winter Paralympics since 2010, but only four female players have competed to date – Japan’s Akari Fukunishi being the most recent, at Milano Cortina 2026.
Hosting the 2026 World Championships was a key requirement for WPIH in order to apply for a women’s tournament to be considered for the Alpes 2030 Paralympic Winter Games programme.
Team USA will travel to Australia as defending champions, following an undefeated campaign in Dolny Kubin that culminated in a 7-1 victory over Canada in the final. Tournament MVP Kelsey DiClaudio was nominated for this year’s Laureus World Sports Awards for her performance at the Women’s Worlds.
Norway claimed the bronze medal last year, followed by Great Britain in fourth, Team World in fifth and Australia in sixth. The tournament also led to WPIH receiving the International Paralympic Committee’s International Women’s Day Recognition Award (IWD) in the IPC Member category, acknowledging the efforts to promote gender equality within the Paralympic Movement.
“We have always said that women’s Para ice hockey is here to stay, and we are delighted to share the news about Newcastle 2026,” commented Michelle Laflamme, World Para Ice Hockey Senior Manager. “Back at the Winter Games in Milano last March, we said we needed people around the world to raise their hands and help make this second World Championships a reality. Ice Hockey Australia did it, and it shows how much they have done to develop our sport and to be a part of this shared dream of becoming part of the Paralympic programme in the near future.”
Ice Hockey Australia President, Tim Kitching added:
'Ice Hockey Australia is incredibly proud to host the 2026 Women’s World Championships and welcome the athletes and participating nations to Australia. This event is about more than competition. It is about creating opportunities, inspiring future generations, and advancing the growth of Women’s Para ice hockey. We are honoured to work alongside World Para Ice Hockey and Paralympics Australia to deliver a world-class event'.
The Hunter Ice Skating Stadium is located in Lake Macquarie, about 15km from Newcastle’s city centre in the state of New South Wales. Opened in 2000, it is the home rink of the Newcastle Northstars, founded in 2023 and the largest Para ice hockey club in Australia with 30 members. Their stand-up hockey team is also the most successful in the history of the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL) with six titles.
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