Austria produced a magnificent seven to win the men’s U21 Championship II-A in Walcz while Switzerland won promotion from II-B in Lausanne to return to the top tier for the first time since 2002.

II-A Walcz

Austria scored a magnificent seven penalty corners to get the win over Ukraine that they needed to win the men’s EuroHockey U21 Championship II-A in Walcz, earning promotion and a Junior World Cup ticket.

Any pre-match nerves were dispelled when Maximilian Kelner scored in the fifth minute and Erik Schiesser added another a minute later. Kelner and Julian Kaiser extended the lead to 4-0 before the end of the first quarter.

Maximilian Meisel made it five before Ukraine got on the scoreboard through Vladyslav Tsymbaliuk; 5-1 at half-time. But Kelner and Kaiser scored once more in the second half for a handsome win.

It gave them an unassailable lead at the top of the table and Austrian Robin Rösch coach was thrilled as a result: “Great crowd here on site, lots of parents, I really liked that. We put in a really good performance throughout the tournament, improving from game to game. Everything was great.”

Poland produced an excellent late comeback against Italy to make sure they grabbed the silver medal, recovering from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 in what was effectively a battle to see how the podium would appear.

Jonas Carelli and Leonardo Guiducci had the Italian side riding high in the first 20 minutes, building a strong lead.

But they could not maintain that advantage once Poland got one back in the 53^rd minute through Karol Gumny. Captain Robert Pawlak then equalised with four minutes to go despite his side being down to 10 players.

The draw was enough for Poland take second place to the delight of their home crowd.

Lithuania completed their tournament on a winning note as they defeated Luxembourg 6-2, the former ending in fifth place with the latter in sixth in their debut tournament.

In a lively opening, it was 2-2 by the 18^th minute with Pavel Singh and Carlos Haesaerts cancelling out Džiugas Dikšas and Dominykas Vaikenas.

Lithuania retook the lead before half-time thanks to Rafal Stankevič and further goals from Andžej Burkot, Povilas Sinkevičius – his ninth of the tournament – and Danielus Petkevič won the day.

Final standings

1. Austria
2. Poland
3. Italy
4. Ukraine
5. Lithuania
6. Luxembourg

Teams	Title	Scoreline
LTU – LUX	Pool A	6 – 2
AUT – UKR	Pool A	7 – 2
ITA – POL	Pool A	2 – 2

Pool A

Rank	Team	Played	Wins	Draws	Losses	Goal Difference	Points
1	Austria	5	5	0	0	26	15
2	Poland	5	3	1	1	20	10
3	Italy	5	3	1	1	7	10
4	Ukraine	5	2	0	3	1	6
5	Lithuania	5	1	0	4	-17	3
6	Luxembourg	5	0	0	5	-37	0

II-B Lausanne

Switzerland won all the prizes on offer in Lausanne as their 2-2 draw enough to stay clear of their Scottish rivals, qualifying for the Euro U21 top division and the 2025 Junior World Cup.

Needing a draw, they were never behind in this evenly-matched contest as the hosts went in front from their first penalty corner with a direct drag-flicks from Loris Grandchamp.

Scotland, though, got back level at half-time when Pete Caughey picked up the pieces from a penalty corner rebound to make it 1-1.

Matthias Mohrhauer  restored the lead in the third quarter when he dived in at the back post to make it 2-1. It left Scotland needing two more goals and they got one back from another corner, this time via Charles Jack from a direct route.

But the winner proved out of reach and Switzerland were able to celebrate returning to the top level for the first time since 2002.

Czechia jumped up to third place in the competition with a narrow 2-1 win over Wales following a dramatic late performance in the final quarter.

John Bennett gave the Welsh side a second minute lead and they held that all the way through to the 50^th minute. There, Kryštof Šesták equalised from a penalty corner and they took the points with one of the last plays of the game with Martin Plachý scoring another set piece.

Final standings

1. Switzerland
2. Scotland
3. Czechia
4. Wales
5. Finland

Teams	Title	Scoreline
WAL – CZE	Pool A	1 – 2
SCO – SUI	Pool A	2 – 2

Pool A

Rank	Team	Played	Wins	Draws	Losses	Goal Difference	Points
1	Switzerland	4	3	1	0	17	10
2	Scotland	4	2	2	0	11	8
3	Czechia	4	2	0	2	-2	6
4	Wales	4	1	1	2	0	4
5	Finland	4	0	0	4	-26	0