Inaugural World Para Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship signals new era for the sport
Day 3 of the Skien 2024 World Para Ice Hockey Women’s World Challenge.
Ⓒ Kenneth Myhre/LOC/WPIH
Exciting. Empowering. Finally.
Those are the words veteran women’s sled hockey players and event organizers use to describe the inaugural World Para Ice Hockey Women’s Championship.
Set for Aug. 26-31 in Dolny Kubin, Slovakia, the opening puck drop between Team USA and Team Australia will mark both the start of the tournament and the first official step toward including women’s sled hockey in the Paralympics. Backed by the global sled hockey community, this championship will showcase the sport’s rapid growth through fierce competition.
“I’ve been playing for 20 years, but I feel like this is the start of my career,” said Team USA captain Kelsey DiClaudio. “I’ve never been taken so seriously as an athlete on the world stage.”
DiClaudio, a 20-year veteran and top goal scorer for Team USA, has seen the sport evolve from early scrimmages in 2005 to the first sanctioned world championship in 2025. While she doesn’t diminish her past accomplishments, the elite-level recognition from World Para Ice Hockey, paired with rising athlete numbers internationally, has reignited her competitive spirit.
“The caliber of athletes has increased and our sport has gotten younger over the years,” DiClaudio said. “There weren’t many girls early on, so if you were a female and wanted to play sled hockey, you were basically on the [U.S. women’s] national team. The competitiveness from this shift has given me something to prove.”
While Team USA and Team Canada launched women’s programs in 2007, their efforts were initially athlete-funded, volunteer-based operations. Support from national federations like USA Hockey and Hockey Canada came later. DiClaudio notes the increased funding and support for Team USA after the program was picked up by USA Hockey in 2018.
“Before, we were crawling and scratching for any opportunities we could get,” she said. “Girls today will never know the days of not having jerseys or socks or a medical staff. We are being treated a lot better now, and it shows on the ice.”
That shift is echoed in Europe. Norwegian Paralympian and Team Norway captain Lena Schrøder recalls that “15 years ago there was a girl here, a girl there,” but now full teams are forming on the continent. Great Britain’s women’s team emerged in 2022, and Norway fielded its first in May 2025.
One of only three women to compete at the Paralympics alongside men, Schrøder now has the opportunity to bear her flag at an all-women event.
“I feel the pressure of playing with the Norwegian flag. When I played in the Paralympics, I felt pressure as the only woman, but this pressure is different. I need to perform, to show for my 17 years of playing,” Schrøder said.
Heightened stakes are tied not only to national pride but to the sport’s long-term fight for Paralympic inclusion.
Before individual European teams formed, Schrøder led multi-country squads like Team World (2022) and Team Europe (2023-2024) during the WPIH Women’s World Challenge series. These events helped grow the sport, but they had yet to meet the six-team requirement for World Championship status or serve as a milestone toward Paralympic qualification.
According to WPIH Senior Manager Michelle Laflamme, the organization crafted a Paralympic pathway in 2021 that included these three Women’s World Challenge tournaments as a leadup to the 2025 Women's World Championship. Sanctioned after the recent additions of Team Australia and Team World, the championship officially counts toward applying for Paralympic inclusion in 2030. That application must be submitted by 2027, with eight national teams required.
“Since launching the Paralympic pathway in 2022, women’s representation in sled hockey has risen from 0.76% to 20%,” Laflamme said. “I think it’s ambitious, but I’m hopeful that we’ll have enough growth to apply for the 2030 Paralympics.”
Whether through mentorship from seasoned teams like Team Canada and Team USA, or joint training camps and scrimmages, both DiClaudio and Schrøder believe much of the sport’s growth can be attributed to global camaraderie off the ice.
“On the ice we’re rivals, but off we’re a community that has fun together,” DiClaudio said. “It makes for better competition and sportsmanship.”
Schrøder adds, “Everyone has come together to develop the sport, so you can ask other countries for help. For example, we just had a training camp with Great Britain. Not only did we play together, but we ate together, trained together and had practice with the same coach.”
This support and teamwork off the ice translates into relentless drive on it, ensuring the championship will be as competitive as it is historic.
“There’s going to be fast hits and creative plays. Girls want to make a name for themselves and might do something crazy out there,” DiClaudio said. “At the end of the day, we want to go to the Paralympics. To do that, we have to put a show on for the audience.”
Schrøder predicts an exciting match between the U.S. and Canada, with a close battle for bronze among Norway, Great Britain, Australia and Team World.
“I think the physicality of the game is something people can have fun watching,” Schrøder said. “The U.S. and Canada are a really good matchup. They are at the highest level of our sport. Norway is focusing on the medal, primarily bronze. There will be some tight matches, but I hope that we will get there.”
Together, the women’s sled hockey community is writing a new chapter for the sport, one that will be remembered long after the final whistle at Winter Stadium in Dolny Kubin, Slovakia.
“I’m most looking forward to saving this in the record book,” Laflamme said. “These women will always be remembered as the first to play in a world championship, and then we can continue toward the Paralympics. This will never be taken from them.”
WHERE TO WATCH: The 2025 World Para Ice Hockey Women’s Championship will be livestreamed on the Paralympic YouTube channel from Aug. 26-31 starting at 10am ET. For the event schedule, live stats and rosters click here. For more information on the tournament, visit the World Para Ice Hockey website.