China, Great Britain in late surge for Global Cup second place
China and Great Britain are making a late bid to snatch second place in the 2022 Global Cup from Canada, which still retains a slim 64-point lead over surging third-placed China.
The USA is still way ahead at the top of the year-to-date ranking of the world’s best sporting nations, with an unassailable lead over Canada, and is set to be crowned Global Cup champion for the 15th time in a row (since GSN records began in 2008).
China won the October monthly ranking and was third in November, while Great Britain, the other late challenger for a runner-up place, topped the November ranking, gaining four places in the year-to-date table to reach fifth, a mere 9 points behind fourth-placed France.
There are currently 100 points between Canada, China, France and Great Britain, and the race for the runner-up spot, which last year went to Japan, is one of the tightest in years!
In October, China came second in the women’s Basketball World Championships, worth 280 points alone, and won handsomely the Shooting World Championships, behind the USA and South Korea.
Great Britain, after coming second in the Track Cycling World Championships in October behind the Netherlands, won the month of November thanks to second place in the women’s Rugby Union World Cup, and also by notching up plenty of points in the Artistic Gymnastics, Trampoline and Taekwondo World Championships.
Here is a snapshot of the main world championships in October and November, with the top three nations from left to right:
Track Cycling: Netherlands, Great Britain, Germany
Shooting: China, USA, South Korea
Judo: Japan, Brazil, Georgia
Women’s Basketball: USA, China, Australia
Women’s Rugby Union World Cup: New Zealand, Great Britain, France
Artistic Gymnastics: USA, Japan, China
Trampoline: Great Britain, USA, Australia
Taekwondo: China, Mexico, South Korea
Rugby League World Cup: Australia, Samoa, New Zealand.
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Greatest Sporting Nation is a ranking of countries based on their performance in top-level international tournaments in sports in which there is genuine global competition. Countries (national teams and/or individual athletes) score Qualifying Points by finishing in the top eight places in Qualifying Events.
These Qualifying Points are then weighted to produce GSN Points, based on a formula that takes into account individual vs team sports, the sport’s participation (number of countries) and the frequency (annual/biennial/quadrennial) of the tournaments.
The Country scoring the most Points in a calendar year wins the Global Cup for that year. The country that scores the most points relative to its population wins the Per Capita Cup. For a more detailed explanation, please refer to the ‘How It Works’ section on the site.
