Chayaphon Jaratkorn scored the overtime winner as Thailand´s U18 men topped Iceland 4-3 to win the gold medal at the 2026 IIHF U18 World Championship, Division III Group B in Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina.

With 32 seconds left to play on 3-on-3 in the winner-takes-all gold medal game against Iceland, captain Jaratkorn led by example to capitalize on a Scandinavian defensive zone mix-up and coolly net the game-winning goal to complete a memorable hat-trick. 

Thailand went undefeated at Sarajevo´s Skenderija Sports Arena, dispatching their opponents with a plus-28 goal differential and scoring on 38 occasions. Under the guidance of coach Tewin Chartsuwan, the Southeast Asians earn promotion to the Division III Group A in 2027.

Thai netminder Kingston Pan ended the tournament with a 91.35 save percentage, 2.07 goals against average, and the Top Goalkeeper title. His teammate, Theetachthan Luang-On led the tournament in scoring on 16 (8+8) points and won the Top Forward accolade. Saemundur Thorsteinsson shone on the blueline for silver medalists Iceland with a plus-minus rating of plus-10 and was named as the Top Defender.

New tournament format debuts in Sarajevo

The U18 men’s Division IIIB event in Sarajevo marked the debut of a new competition format aimed to maximize and maintain suspense, with the decisive games guaranteed to be played on the final day.

The new set-up is first being trialled at three lower division tournaments this season where playoff and relegation games decide every team’s fate through head-to-head contests. Teams will continue to play five games each over seven days.

The six participating teams competing at Skenderija Sports Arena were first divided into two groups of three, with each team playing cross-group opponents in a round-robin stage.

The top two from each group then advanced to the semi-finals and the third-placed teams moved into a relegation playoff.

Iceland topped Group A ahead of Bosnia & Herzegovina and South Africa. In Group B, Thailand finished first with a perfect record, followed by Turkmenistan and Luxembourg.

At the semi-final stage, Thailand shone in a 14–0 victory over Turkmenistan, with nine different players getting on the scoresheet. Iceland defeated host nation Bosnia & Herzegovina 8–2 to book their place in the gold medal game. 

In the head-to-head clash for bronze, Faris Capin led Bosnia & Herzegovina by scoring a brace and adding an assist in the host team´s 4-1 victory over Turkmenistan.  

South Africa claimed fifth place courtesy of Latita Ngqola´s last-gasp overtime winner against Luxembourg.

Final standings: https://www.iihf.com/en/events/2026/wm18iiib/standings/final 

Game results: https://www.iihf.com/en/events/2026/wm18iiib/schedule

Final standings:

1. Thailand (Promoted to the 2027 IIHF U18 World Championship, Division III Group A)

2. Iceland 

3. Bosnia & Herzegovina

4. Turkmenistan 

5. South Africa

6. Luxembourg

Game results:

13 February: RSA 3-4 TKM, LUX 1-12 ISL, BIH 3-12 THA

14 February: ISL 5-1 TKM, THA 4-2 RSA, BIH 7-6 LUX (OT)

16 February: RSA 7-3 LUX, ISL 2-4 THA, TKM 0-3 BIH

18 February:  RSA 2-6 LUX, THA 14-0 TKM, ISL 8-2 BIH

19 February: LUX 2-10 RSA (OT), BIH 4-1 TKM, THA 4-3 ISL (OT)