ZURICH – Sunday’s gold medal game of the 2012 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship set TV records in Russia and Slovakia.

Komsomolskaya Pravda reports that 26 million Russians watched the final game of the tournament, which set a new record for hockey broadcasting in the country. The previous record TV rating was 25 million viewers set in the gold medal game of the 2010 World Championship between Russia and the Czech Republic.

In comparison, the highest TV rating in Russia for a football match in the last 12 months has been 18 million.

The average market share was 48 per cent. It peaked around 60 per cent for the final stages of the game and the prize ceremony.

The gold medal game on Sunday became the most-watched sport event and the second-most watched TV program ever in Slovakia.

1.788 million Slovaks watched the gold medal game on STV, which represented a market share of 72.7 per cent.