Russia faces the United States and fellow world championship finalist Slovakia in the group stage of its home Sochi 2014 Olympic tournament, the International Ice Hockey Federation announced Sunday.
The top nine teams in the world according to their IIHF ranking qualify directly for the Sochi Games, with three other places at the 12-team tournament determined by a qualifying tournament next year.
Top-ranked Russia plays Slovakia later Sunday in the world championship final, and whatever the result, the standings can not change.
That means that the make-up of the four groups at the Olympic tournament is almost established.
Russia gets sixth-ranked Slovakia and seventh-ranked America.
World No. 2 Finland will face fifth-ranked Canada and eigth-ranked Norway.
The Czech Republic, the world No. 3, will have fourth-placed Sweden and ninth-ranked Switzerland.
A qualifier from the tournament, which is slated for February in Germany, will complete each group.
Britain needs to beat Japan, Romania and one other team to reach the qualifying tournament.
The Sochi Games are set for February 2014.
Russia will be seeking its first Olympic gold after the breakup of the Soviet Union, which won the gold at seven Games.
The closest Russia has come is silver at Nagano 1998, when Czech Republic won 1-0 on a Petr Svoboda goal.
