Women's Para ice hockey: Trailblazers, milestones and a legacy in motion

Female participation in Para ice hockey dates back to the sport’s Paralympic Winter Games debut at Lillehammer 1994, when Norway’s Britt Mjaasund Oeyen was part of the silver medallist team. 

Since Vancouver 2010, Para ice hockey has been an open-gender sport, but it was not until PyeongChang 2018 that a second female athlete, Norway’s Lena Schroeder, competed at the Games. Schroeder will captain her national team at this year’s Women’s World Championships.

Yu Jing was part of China’s bronze medal squad at Beijing 2022, becoming the third – and to date last – female player to compete at the Winter Paralympics. 

Since then, World Para Ice Hockey has launched a Women’s Development Pathway to bring more female athletes to ice. This initiative led to the creation of the Women’s World Challenge, a development tournament that paved the way to this year’s historic World Championships in Dolny Kubin.

In just three years, female representation in Para ice hockey rose from less than 1 percent to over 20 percent in the 2024-2025 season.

“To see the puck drop in the opening game of the first-ever Women’s World Championships will be a huge moment for our sport and all the fantastic people involved in making this possible – from players and officials to coaching staff, classifiers and organisers,” said Michelle Laflamme, World Para Ice Hockey Senior Manager. 

 “But we want to look back in ten years from now and see this week as the beginning of the journey to make women’s Para ice hockey a global sport.”  

‘’What incredible determination, dedication and passion on her part.’’ Raphaelle Tousignant breaking barriers in Para ice hockey. @HockeyCanada #paraicehockey https://t.co/TQdZY87s8J pic.twitter.com/ve9rOJw6cP

— Canadian Paralympic Team (@CDNParalympics) June 2, 2023

Laflamme added: 

“For women to see themselves represented, they need a clear pathway and a tangible goal to work towards. Four years ago, we didn’t even know how many women were playing and where they were based. Now we have five national teams and another handful of nations developing their programmes. We hope more countries will join and more partners will see the potential of this amazing sport”

The growth in female participation has also had an impact on open-gender World Para Ice Hockey events. Several athletes competing in Dolny Kubin have previously represented their countries at A-Pool, B-Pool and C-Pool World Championships. Among them are Canada's Raphaelle Tousignant, who played at the 2023 A-Pool Worlds in Moose Jaw, and Australia's Rosa-Lee Principe, who competed at the 2024 C-Pool Worlds in Bangkok.  

On Team Great Britain, Dani Czernuszka-Watts, Stacey Quirk, Leanne Emmerson and Nicole Jodi Hill were all part of the squad that won the C-Pool in Bangkok in 2022. Felicity Gregoy and Shannon Couch joined the team at the B-Pool World Championships in Kazakhstan two years later.

Complete schedule, results and stats from the Women’s World Championships can be found here.