The Swiss women's national team will start the Olympic ice hockey tournament on Friday at 2.40 pm against the Czech Republic. The Eastern Europeans are favored.
06.02.2026, 05:00
06.02.2026, 07:06
SDA
The images of the Swiss women winning Olympic bronze in Sochi in 2014 are unforgettable. A lot has happened in women's ice hockey in this country since then, but there have been no more medals at a major event. The Swiss women also won bronze at the World Championships in 2012.
At the Winter Games four years ago in Beijing, they lost the third-place match to Finland 0:4. Now the team of coach Colin Muller, who took over in 2019, is making its next attempt. The clear leaders of the team are captain Lara Stalder and Alina Müller, who are both taking part in the Olympic Games for the fourth time. The latter scored the decisive 4-2 goal in Sochi at the age of 15 in the third-place game against Sweden (4-3) with a shot into the empty net; she now plays in the North American professional league PWHL, as does defender Nicole Vallario.
The team also includes eight Olympic debutants, including 17-year-old Laure Mériguet, the youngest ever member of the Swiss delegation at these Winter Games. "We have a very balanced team with a lot of international experience and a strong mix of routine and dynamism," says Muller.
As number 5 in the world rankings, the Swiss are playing in Group A - in addition to the Czech Republic, their opponents are Canada (Saturday), the USA (Monday) and Finland (Tuesday). The aim of the preliminary round is to put themselves in as good a position as possible for the quarter-finals, for which the Swiss have already qualified.
