The 2001 IIHF World U18 Championships were held in Heinola, Helsinki, and Lahti, Finland. The championships ran between April 12 and April 22, 2001. Games were played at the Heinolan Jäähalli in Heinola, the Helsinki Ice Hall in Helsinki, and the Lahden Jäähalli in Lahti. Russia defeated Switzerland 6âÂÂ2 in the final to win the gold medal, with Finland defeating the Czech Republic 2âÂÂ1 to capture the bronze medal.
<small>Note: The following matches from the preliminary round carry forward to the relegation round:</small>
Ukraine was relegated. However with Canada entering the tournament for 2002, Ukraine was re-instated to top level as the tournament was expanded to 12 teams for a year.
<small> were supposed to be relegated to Division I for the 2002 IIHF World U18 Championships, however with the late addition of it was decided to temporarily expand the tournament to twelve teams.</small>
<small>(Minimum 60 minutes played)</small>
<small> were promoted to the top level, and were relegated to Division II for the 2002 IIHF World U18 Championships.</small>
<small> were promoted to the Division I, and were relegated to Division III for the 2002 IIHF World U18 Championships.</small>
<small> were promoted to the Division II, and were relegated to Division III Qualification (which was not played, Israel returned to competition in 2003) for the 2002 IIHF World U18 Championships.</small>