South Korea then followed Austria into the top division as they edged bottom team Ukraine 2-1 to leapfrog Kazakhstan into second place.

Austria finished at the summit of the round-robin group.

The 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Games host nation will play in the IIHF World Championships for the first time next year.

The Austrian side knew a win in regulation time would secure their spot at next year's event in Denmark and they proved far too strong for Poland, who had a slim chance of being promoted going into the final day.

Kazakhstan kept their hopes alive as they beat Hungary 3-1 at the Palace of Sports to move into second place but it ultimately proved irrelevant as South Korea ended their promotion dreams.

Austria were rampant against a shellshocked Polish team, with Martin Ulmer opening the scoring after just 104 seconds.

Further goals from Brian Lebler and Fabio Hofer gave Austria a healthy 3-0 lead going into the second period, where they scored four more through Raff, Lukas Haudum and a late double by Konstantin Komarek.

Despite having the result all-but sewn up, Austria kept pressing forward and added another four goals in the third stanza.

Steven Strong made it 8-0, before Haudum added a ninth and Brian Lebler found the net twice to complete the rout.

Kazakhstan made a bright start to their clash with Hungary as Kevin Dallman put them ahead early in the first period.

Eight minutes later Nikita Mikhailis was left unmarked and punished the lax Hungarian defence to double Kazakhstan's lead.

Kalvin Sagert halved the deficit for Hungary late in a frantic first period but it proved to be a consolation in the end as Nigel Dawes put the result of the match beyond all doubt with the crucial third in the last stanza.

The win for Kazakhstan gave the pre-tournament favourites a chance of promotion but their hopes were dashed by South Korea, who inflicted a penalty shoot-out defeat on the host nation.

After a scoreless opening period, Jin Hui Ahn broke the deadlock for South Korea but Sergi Babynets levelled proceedings shortly after.

Neither side could find a winning goal and the match went to a shoot-out, with Sanghoon Shin scoring the decisive penalty.

At the Division IB event at the SSE Arena in Belfast, Japan maintained their 100 per cent record as they swept aside Lithuania 6-2.

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