In some ways, France’s win was a culmination of years of hard work and steady growth by a team of young women who have conquered the world together on more than one level.
In other ways it was complete and utter luck.
Team France joined Group A of Division I after sweeping the 2013 Division I Group B World Championships. They came in fourth in 2014 and third in 2015. In 2016 they came within one game of winning Group A: tied on points with Germany, they came in second by virtue of the fact that their only loss of the tournament had been against Germany.