Great Britain face Hungary this evening knowing a point will guarantee them the gold medal and promotion to the top elite level of the World Championship.

GB, who are seeded 24th in the world and are the lowest seed in the six-team group, have won three of their four matches so far and are currently three points clear at the top of Division 1 Group A.

Pete Russell’s side began the tournament with a 3-1 victory over number-one seeds Slovenia before a 6-1 defeat by Kazakhstan.

But successive wins over Poland (5-3) and Italy (4-3) last night have put them on the brink of back-to-back promotions following their gold medal in Belfast last season.

Hosts Hungary were beaten 3-0 by Kazakhstan on opening day and then secured a 3-2 victory over Italy.

A 4-1 defeat by Slovenia followed but a 3-2 victory over Poland has given them chance of promotion.

Hungary, who are ranked 19th in the world and are the tournament’s fifth seeds, have spent most of the last 10 years at the second-tier level.

However, they were in the top flight as recent as 2016 but were relegated at the World Championship in Russia.

GB v Hungary: World Championship meetings since 2004
2013 WC Div 1A in Budapest, Hungary L 2-4 D. Phillips, Shields
2012 WC Div 1B in Ljubljana, Slovenia W 5-4 Dowd 2, J. Phillips, Fussey, Clarke
2010 WC Div 1B in Ljubljana, Slovenia L 0-2
2007 WC Div 1B in Ljubljana, Slovenia L 2-4 Watkins. J. Phillips
2006 WC Div 1A in Amiens, France L 3-4 Myers, J. Phillips, Shields
2005 WC Div 1A in Debrecen, Hungary W 3-0 Weaver, Jamieson, Tait (Murphy 50-shot shutout)
2004 WC Div 1A In Oslo, Norway L 3-5 Ward, Clarke, Thornton

GB and Hungary have met seven times in a World Championship tournament since 2004, with Hungary winning five and GB winning two.

Britain’s most recent victory came in 2012 in Ljubljana when GB skated to a 5-4 victory, which included two goals for Robert Dowd and Jonathan Phillips was also on target.

There’ll be updates on the game on GB’s Twitter account today, live television coverage on FreeSports with Aaron Murphy and former GB player Paul Adey, as well as play-by-play radio commentary with Seth Bennett and Ice Hockey UK general secretary Andy French on BBC Radio Five Live Sports Extra the BBC Sport website.