Current season, competition or edition: 2023 World Ringette Championships | |
| Sport | Ringette |
|---|---|
| First season | 1990 |
| No. of teams | Differing:
Senior Pool Junior Pool President's Pool (Differing): U18 International Development Festival (Differing): Other |
| Countries | World |
| Most recent champion(s) |  Senior:  Finland Junior Finland |
| Most titles | Senior: Finland (9 titles since 1996) Junior:  Canada(3 titles since 2013) |
| Official website | IRFringette.com |
| Notes | |
| |
The World Ringette Championships (WRC) is the premier international competition in ringette and is governed by the International Ringette Federation (IRF). Unlike most international competitions, all of the WRC's elite athletes are female rather than male, one of the sport's distinctive features. Competing nations include: Canada, Finland, United States, Sweden, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, with Team Canada and Team Finland having emerged as the sport's top two competing nations. The 2023 World Ringette Championships were held in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and was the sport's 60th anniversary.[1]
Competition consists of teams competing in one of four pools: the Senior Pool (Sam Jacks Series), the Under–21, U21 Pool (formerly called the Junior Pool) the President's Pool, and the new U18 International Development Festival which began in 2023.
The "Sam Jacks Series" is the name of the Senior Pool which is the tournament's elite competition between Team Canada Senior and Team Finland Senior with the Sam Jacks Trophy awarded to the team who wins the world senior title. The U21 Pool is now the tournament's elite competition between Team Canada U21 and Team Finland U21 with the Juuso Wahlsten Trophy awarded to the team who wins the world U21 title. The President's Pool is the tournament's competition between developing ringette nations with a smaller presence in the sport. Team Sweden Senior, Team USA Senior, and Team Czech Republic Senior compete in this pool and the President's Trophy is awarded to the winning team. National teams including Team Slovakia, Team Russia, and Team France, have also competed in the WRC past.
The nations of Canada and Finland form the most significant international rivalry at the world level which means the rivalry does not exist exclusively between North American teams. Nations like the United States, Sweden, and the Czech Republic have yet to produce top tier talent and these three countries form the international rivalry at a lower tier. One of the three countries are expected to eventually produce the first team to break the top two-team international barrier between Canada and Finland, though Slovakia, Russia and France have also competed. Neither Team Russia nor Team France have competed in the senior division at the World Ringette Championships since WRC 1996, and neither country has sent a junior, U21, or U19 national ringette team to compete since the 2012 World Junior Ringette Championships. Team Slovakia has not competed since WRC 2016 and has not created a junior, U19,or U21 national team.
The inaugural year for the WRC was in 1990 and the World Ringette Summit Series took place in Europe in 1998. The 2021 WRC was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Several WRC competitions have been recorded and been made available for viewing online for free.
Unlike most international team sports tournaments, the World Ringette Championship competition consists entirely of elite female athletes due to the sport's dedication to providing girls and women with a sport of their own which has also allowed it to be free from the administrative responsibilities necessary to govern both a male and female category of the sport. This approach has also resulted in the ability to avoid male-to-female comparisons and has given the spotlight to elite female athletes.
- ^ "Calgary to host Ringette Canada and International Ringette Federation World Championship". ringgete.ca. Ringette Canada. 27 March 2023. Retrieved 29 March 2023.