Kazakhstan won the 2024 Ice Hockey U20 World Championship in the first division (1А) in Budapest. Next season, the youth team will play in the elite of the World Championship.

Before the final round of the tournament in the Hungarian capital, everything had already been decided: Kazakhstan led the tournament table with 12 points, in which six national teams participated: Hungary, Denmark, Kazakhstan, Japan, France and Austria.

The Kazakhstan U20 national team turned the match with the Austrians into a shootout, in which they fought back several times: the main time of the game ended in a draw (6:6). The overtime ended without scoring goals, and in the shootout the Austrians were stronger – 7:6.

It is important to note, that Kazakhstan’s Vladimir Nitikin was named goaltender of the tournament.

Sergey Starygin’s wards entered the elite division of the Ice Hockey U20 World Championship, in which Kazakhstan was last represented in 2020.