Defending champion Russia beat Belarus 3-1 to sweep all three of its group matches at the world ice hockey championship on Thursday.

Alex Ovechkin scored his third goal of the tournament, and Sergei Mozyakin and Artyom Anisimov also struck home as Russia jumped ahead 3-0 after 35 minutes.

Alexei Kalyuzhny scored in the final period for Belarus, which claimed third place in Group A and a spot in the second round.

Locking up second place in Group A was Slovakia after a convincing 5-1 victory over Kazakhstan.

Ivan Ciernik, playing in his Cologne Sharks home arena, scored twice for Slovakia.

In Group C action, Sweden lost 2-1 against the Czech Republic but captured first place in the group.

The Czechs opened the scoring after just 54 seconds on a short-handed goal by captain Tomas Rolinek.

Magnus Paarjarvi Svensson knotted the game four minutes into the second period before Petr Hubacek struck five minutes later for the Czechs to lead 2-1. Tomas Vokoun had 31 saves for the Czech Republic.

The result combined with Norway's 5-1 over France gave Sweden, the Czechs and Norway all berths in the second round.

Sweden took first place in the group with the best goal differential in head-to-head games, and the Czechs were second.

Norway fell behind 1-0 before scoring five unanswered goals for a 5-1 victory over France.

Stephane Da Costa's power play goal gave France a 1-0 lead in the first period. But Peter Lorentzen equalized and Patrick Thoresen added a goal and an assist in the Norway run.

France lost all three games and will challenge the United States, Italy and Kazakhstan against relegation.

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