USA moves to top spot in IIHF’s women’s world rankings for 2026

The red, white and blue are atop the polls after an impressive year.

On Thursday, the International Ice Hockey Federation released its latest women’s world rankings. Sitting above the rest is none other than the United States.

While the 2026 IIHF Women’s World Championship won’t be held until November, the rankings have changed thanks to other international competitions, including the Winter Olympics this past February. There, the Americans reigned supreme, putting forth one of the most dominant efforts in tournament history.

The U.S. was heavily favored to capture the gold medal, thanks to entering Milan as the reigning world champions and clobbering the Canadians during the four-game Rivalry Series in November and December. The Americans waltzed through the group stage, outscoring their opponents 20-1, including a 5-0 thrashing of Canada to clinch first place in Group A.

They continued their dominance into the medal round, skating by Italy and Sweden to set up another championship game against their northern rivals. While they needed a record-breaking goal from Hilary Knight to tie the game, Megan Keller’s overtime winner clinched the country’s third women’s Olympic hockey gold medal, and first since 2018.

During that time, the Americans also set a couple of records between the pipes. Aerin Frankel set a new Olympic record with three shutouts, while she and Gwyneth Philips set a new record for the longest time without a goal, not giving up a tally for 352:17.

With the dramatic win, the U.S. jumped Canada in the latest rankings, with the superpowers remaining relatively uncontested. Finland sits third, with Czechia right behind them, despite the two teams failing to reach the semifinals in Italy. Switzerland and Sweden, who played for the bronze medal, are ranked fifth and sixth. Japan, Germany, Hungary and Denmark round out the top 10.

Here are the full women’s world rankings after the 2025-26 season:

Read more women’s hockey stories at DFO