USA stretch Global Cup lead in November, late surge by Japan, China
The USA came third in the month of November in the Global Cup, the ranking of the world’s best sporting nations, stretching its lead over second-placed France in the year-to-date table to 1,521 points.
As we wrote last month, the mighty Stars & Stripes are now secure of yet another Global Cup title, but France has truly given the US a run for its money this year, and confirmed its place as the best of the rest of the sporting world, after finishing second in the Global Cup also in 2016 and 2017.
It’s worth mentioning that France is still comfortably top of the men’s Global Cup ranking, ahead of the USA and Russia. If the USA won’t catch up in December, it would be the first time in GSN history it fails to win the men’s Global Cup.
Behind the top two in the overall table, Russia carved a little more space in November between its third-place slot and the pack of followers, among which Japan and China are staging a strong late surge. After November, both countries overtook those immediately preceding them and are now respectively fourth and sixth. There are 447 points between Russia in third place and China in sixth place, so some more leap-frogging may still be on the cards before the end of the year.
Japan, which has never finished above seventh place (in 2011 and 2016) in the final Global Cup standings, is on for a record-breaking year. Japanese ladies in particular are a force to be reckoned with, as Japan is currently second in the women’s Global Cup standings, well behind the USA and only 13 point ahead of their Oriental rivals China.
There is still one month of sporting action left in the year, and still a lot to play for!
