Ostersund 2015 medals unveiled

“Ostersund 2015 is the biggest major international competition to take place since the success of the sport at the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games.”

The organisers of the 2015 IPC Ice Sledge Hockey World Championships B-Pool have revealed the design of the medals that will be contested in Ostersund, Sweden, between 15-21 March.

An image of the medals is available at Flickr page.

The stunning design carries the event logo by Swedish designer Nina Kristoffersson, cast in relief, which features an ice sledge hockey player surrounded by circles that decrease in size.

Ostersund 2015 will feature teams from South Korea, Great Britain, Slovakia, Poland, the host nation Sweden and newly qualified Austria.

Jessica Korber, IPC Ice Sledge Hockey Sport Manager, said: “Ostersund 2015 is the biggest major international competition to take place since the success of the sport at the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games.

“It is also an important step on the road to PyeongChang 2018 because the gold and silver medal winners will be promoted to the A-Pool for the 2017 World Championships, where they will have the opportunity to be one of the top five teams that directly qualify for the Paralympic Games a year later.

“The medals are therefore certain to be hotly contested at Ostersund 2015.”

The Worlds will also see the last-place team relegated to the new C-Pool for 2016.

In 2017, the top five finishers from the World Championships A-Pool will directly qualify for PyeongChang 2018. The bottom three teams from the A-Pool event and the top three teams from the B-Pool event will compete at the Qualification Tournament for PyeongChang 2018 that same year.

The top two or three finishers – depending on the status of the Paralympic host nation’s team – will move on to PyeongChang 2018.

Ostersund 2015 takes place just before the 2015 IPC Ice Sledge World Championships A-Pool in Buffalo, New York, USA, from 26 April – 3 May.

The 2013 B-Pool World Championships in Nagano, Japan, featured six teams ahead of Sochi 2014, as the host nation lost to Germany 3-2 in the gold-medal game.

Great Britain beat Estonia 3-2 in the bronze medal match.