Sweden holds off Czechia to win gold at world juniors

Sweden prevented a late rally from Czechia to win the 2026 World Junior Championship with a 4-2 victory in the gold-medal game on Monday.

It's Sweden's third gold medal in the tournament's history and first since 2012.

Czechia scored two late goals to pull within one, but was unable to notch the equalizer before Sweden added an empty-netter to seal the victory.

Sweden dominated for most of the game, building a 2-0 lead after two periods with a shorty from Casper Juustovaara and a power-play marker by Victor Eklund while holding Czechia to just 11 shots through 40 minutes.

Sascha Boumedienne added a third goal for the Tre Kronor early in the third period off a great pass from Ivar Stenberg and Sweden looked to be in cruise control.

However, Adam Jiricek gave Czechia life with a goal at the 17:36 mark of the third period. With the Czechs pressing, Matej Kubiesa found twine with 24 seconds left in the game. That's as close as the Czechs got before Stenberg scored the empty-netter.

Sweden was dominant from start to finish in the tournament, posting a perfect 7-0-0-0 record to end its 14-year gold-medal drought.

Czechia, meanwhile, hasn't claimed gold since winning back-to-back titles in 2000 and 2001.