Norway and Austria top Snow Sports countries in 2015
The beginning of spring has brought the Snow Sports season to an end, and it’s time to celebrate the top countries on slopes and forest tracks. GSN has aggregated the results of Alpine and Freestyle Skiing, Snowboarding, Ski Mountaineering – the Alpine Snow sports – and Cross Country Skiing, Biathlon, Ski Jumping and the Nordic Combined – the Nordic Snow sports – to rank the leading nations in these fascinating sports.
Two relatively small European countries, Norway and Austria, have been dominant this season, thanks to consistent performances and point-scoring in all of the snow sports, a feat achieved by only three other countries: Germany, France and the USA.
Norway has topped the overall Snow Sports ranking (see tables below) by dominating Nordic sports and finishing a respectable 10th in Alpine sports, where instead Austria won convincingly, ahead of much larger nations such as the USA, France and Germany, after winning also the Alpine Skiing World Championships.
|
SNOW SPORTS 2015
|
pts
|
|
|
1
|
Norway
|
820
|
|
2
|
Austria
|
797
|
|
3
|
United States
|
687
|
|
4
|
France
|
630
|
|
5
|
Germany
|
516
|
|
6
|
Switzerland
|
443
|
|
7
|
Canada
|
397
|
|
8
|
Sweden
|
364
|
|
9
|
Russia
|
358
|
|
10
|
Italy
|
344
|
|
11
|
Slovenia
|
309
|
|
12
|
Czech Republic
|
222
|
|
13
|
Finland
|
171
|
|
14
|
Japan
|
114
|
|
15
|
Australia
|
114
|
|
16
|
China
|
100
|
|
17
|
Spain
|
98
|
|
18
|
Poland
|
89
|
|
19
|
Ukraine
|
49
|
|
20
|
Belarus
|
44
|
|
21
|
Slovakia
|
41
|
|
22
|
Liechtenstein
|
22
|
|
23
|
Great Britain
|
20
|
|
24
|
Kazakhstan
|
19
|
|
25
|
Croatia
|
14
|
|
26
|
Bulgaria
|
13
|
|
27
|
Netherlands
|
10
|
|
28
|
New Zealand
|
8
|
|
29
|
Belgium
|
6
|
|
30
|
Andorra
|
4
|
|
31
|
Hungary
|
3
|
|
32
|
South Korea
|
2
|
|
33
|
Romania
|
1
|
|
ALPINE SNOW 2015
|
pts
|
|
|
1
|
Austria
|
693
|
|
2
|
United States
|
627
|
|
3
|
France
|
409
|
|
4
|
Switzerland
|
383
|
|
5
|
Canada
|
341
|
|
6
|
Italy
|
263
|
|
7
|
Slovenia
|
255
|
|
8
|
Germany
|
216
|
|
9
|
Russia
|
177
|
|
10
|
Norway
|
176
|
|
NORDIC SNOW 2015
|
pts
|
|
|
1
|
Norway
|
644
|
|
2
|
Germany
|
300
|
|
3
|
France
|
221
|
|
4
|
Sweden
|
196
|
|
5
|
Russia
|
181
|
|
6
|
Czech Republic
|
149
|
|
7
|
Austria
|
104
|
|
8
|
Italy
|
81
|
|
9
|
Poland
|
81
|
|
10
|
Finland
|
75
|
In the meantime, the battle for the Winter Sports title, awarded to the best nation in sports on the ice as well as on snow, isn’t over yet.
In one of the tightest races ever, three countries are within 36 points of each other after the end of March. The USA (861 points) are leading Norway (847 points) and Austria (825 points), with only four tournaments left to contest: the Curling Men’s and Mixed Doubles World Championships (in April), the Women’s Ice Hockey World Championships (April) and finally, in May, the Men’s Ice Hockey World Championships.
Based on past form, the USA should be able to reach at least 915 points after the Ice Hockey worlds and edge it over any combination of Norway, Austria and Russia, all in the mid 800s. Canada and Switzerland (surprise 3rd in the Women’s Ice Hockey at the 2014 Winter Olympics) could play an outsider role for second or third place.
Watch out how the Winter Sports race will unfold on GSN!
