The Swedish team had traditionally been the fourth-best women's team in the world, behind Canada, USA and Finland. During the 1997 World Championship, Sweden qualified for the 1998 Olympic tournament in Nagano, ending up 5th. However, the team has shown steady improvement since 2001, winning bronze medals at the 2002 Winter Olympics, the 2005 Women's World Ice Hockey Championships, and the 2007 Women's World Ice Hockey Championships, and a silver medal at the 2006 Winter Olympics. On 31 August 2011, Canada was bested by Sweden for just the second time in 66 all-time international meetings. Canada suffered from a 4–1 second-period deficit and lost by a 6–4 score. The current head coach is Ylva Martinsen, who was hired to replace Leif Boork in 2019. On 9 April 2019, at the 2019 World Championship in Espoo, Finland, they lost to Japan 3–2. Sweden has relegated to Division I for the first time in Women's Worlds history.