France and Australia rising, China and Great Britain declining

While the USA, Russia and another powerful ‘winter’ nation, Canada, are well-entrenched in the top spots (the USA have the largest advantage in % terms over their immediate pursuers - after six months - of the last six years), three countries in the top ten are clearly on the rise: France, Norway and Australia. 

 

France are enjoying one of their best-ever years: in 2014 they were 11^th at the end of June and finished 5^th at the end of December, this year they’re second at the end of June, so they could well improve on their best-ever Global Cup placement (4^th in 2011). So far they’ve done well in Winter Sports (7^th overall) and earned key points by winning the Men’s Handball World Championships and taking the runners-up spot in the Women’s Basketball European Championships,

 

Norway have punched well above their weight in the last four years, though they may have reached their ceiling: they finished 15^th and 16^th overall in 2013 and 2014 after standing 4^th and 5^th at the end of June, so their current 5^th place, after a very successful Winter Sports season, may merely confirm their positive trend: their end-of-June average position in the years 2008-2011 was 11, and it’s 8.2 in the years 2012-2015.

 

Australia too have improvement potential: their end-June placement in the last three years has risen from 11^th to 8^th, and their final standing in 2013 and 2014 was 10^th, so they could potentially do better than that on current form.

 

Two major countries on a declining trend are China and Great Britain.

China was as high as 2^nd in the end-of-June ranking in 2011, and has gradually slipped to its current 9^th spot. Year-end ranking has remained stable at 4^th in the last two years, yet they will have to make the most of the upcoming Athletics World Championships in Beijing to confirm or improve their position.

 

Finally, Great Britain have been progressively sliding after their outstanding third place overall at the end of 2012 (they were 6^th in 2013 and 7^th in 2014). At 18^th they’re currently in the lowest end-of-June position of the last eight years (their average position slipped from 8.2 in 2008-2012 to 14.0 in 2013-2015). One of their best chances of recovery comes with the Rugby Union World Championships they’ll be hosting in the autumn: another great tournament to look forward to!