The home side delighted a capacity crowd at the Horst-Korber Sportzentrum as they came from behind to win 6-3.

Paul Doesch, captain of the young German side, led by example, scoring two goals.

Austria, winners of this event on penalties against Belgium two years ago, took an early lead thanks to a deadly corner from Michael Korper.

But the home side, who took bronze in 2018, responded to lead 2-1 at half-time and never lost the initiative from that point onwards.

The bronze medal was won by The Netherlands, who had given Germany their toughest match of the tournament in losing 6-7 in their pool B match.

The Dutch side, who were not involved in the 2018 finals, overwhelmed Russia 11-3 to earn a place on the podium, with Boris Burkhardt scoring four of their goals.

Austria had reached the final with a 5-3 win over The Netherlands, with Korper scoring a hat-trick.

Germany had had a far easier passage as they beat Russia 6-1, with Doesch scoring twice.

The Czech Republic finished in fifth place after a concluding 3-2 win over Ukraine, while Belgium, finalists last time round, had to settle for sixth place following a 7-4 win over Poland.