Canada defeated the US in the IIHF Women's World Championship after Marie-Philip Poulin scored a golden goal a little over seven minutes into the first period of overtime, securing the 3-2 win.

The US had won five consecutive world titles before the defeat to Canada.

The rankings take into account the results over a four-year period from 2018 to 2021. and the leaderboard determines the groups for the 2022 Women's World Championship.

Bronze medallists Finland are ranked third, Russia fourth and Switzerland fifth - all play will subsequently feature in Group A in the next Women’s World Championship following their top-5 finish in Calgary.

The most significant move was made by Hungary, which improved from 12th to 10th place thanks to getting promoted to the top division and finishing ninth.

France took Hungary's 12^th place as it dropped out of the top 10.

The 2021 IIHF Women’s World Ranking includes a record number 42 countries that have been entered in the IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship programme.

The IIHF Council made a proposal to its membership to play the top-level IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship also in Olympic years, when previously the tournament has not been staged.

However, to avoid having two big tournaments within a few months, the championships in Olympic years are scheduled to take place in August rather than spring.

The groups for the 2022 event have been decided, subject to the acceptance of the proposal of the delegates at the 2021 IIHF Semi-Annual Congress in three weeks.

The US and Canada would make up Group A, while Japan, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary and Denmark comprise Group B.

The venue is set to be determined at the Congress, if the proposal is successful.