Norway pips USA to take Global Cup lead
Norway stormed to the Global Cup year-to-date top spot after winning the March monthly table, and on the back of its emphatic victory at the Beijing Winter Olympics at the end of February.
Hardly a surprise, given the Scandinavian country’s past record in winter months, and that 90% of the points awarded in March came from Snow & Ice events. Needless to say, Norway is also currently leading the Snow & Ice sports ranking (please see table below), which it has won every year since 2018.
Overtaken by Norway, the USA now sits in second place in the Global Cup table. Interestingly though, the USA has already scored nearly double the points it scored at this stage last year, something that both adds lustre to Norway’s performance and heralds well for the reigning Global Cup champions. The USA’s second place at the Beijing Winter Olympics has produced the overwhelming majority of its points so far, with the only contributions from non-winter sports coming from Tennis and Marathon.
There are very few surprises in the Global Cup’s top-20 so far this year, and China’s underwhelming performance is one of them. After finishing the 2021 Global Cup on a two-year high in fifth place, China came only 13th at the Beijing Games, and currently sits in 12th place overall.
Among the other surprises, Senegal, Egypt and Cameroon are all in the top 20, thanks to their top-four performances in the African Cup of Nations (men’s Football) earlier in the year. Cameroon and African champions Senegal have both booked places at the World Cup in Qatar next October, so they can try to improve on their best-ever Global Cup finishes, respectively 38th (in 2008) and 57th (in 2019).
Snow & Ice sports ranking – end March 2022
|
Place
|
Country
|
Points
|
Points %
|
|
1
|
Norway
|
1,100
|
13.4%
|
|
2
|
United States
|
785
|
9.6%
|
|
3
|
Switzerland
|
616
|
7.5%
|
|
4
|
Sweden
|
583
|
7.1%
|
|
5
|
Austria
|
578
|
7.1%
|
|
6
|
Canada
|
561
|
6.9%
|
|
7
|
Germany
|
533
|
6.5%
|
|
8
|
Italy
|
469
|
5.7%
|
|
9
|
France
|
449
|
5.5%
|
|
10
|
Japan
|
428
|
5.2%
|
|
11
|
Finland
|
396
|
4.8%
|
|
12
|
Netherlands
|
278
|
3.4%
|
|
13
|
China
|
263
|
3.2%
|
|
14
|
Slovenia
|
146
|
1.8%
|
|
15
|
South Korea
|
144
|
1.8%
|
|
16
|
Slovakia
|
138
|
1.7%
|
|
17
|
Czech Republic
|
103
|
1.3%
|
|
18
|
Australia
|
88
|
1.1%
|
|
19
|
Belarus
|
60
|
0.7%
|
|
20
|
Russia
|
60
|
0.7%
|
|
21
|
Great Britain
|
54
|
0.7%
|
|
22
|
Belgium
|
51
|
0.6%
|
|
23
|
Poland
|
48
|
0.6%
|
|
24
|
Hungary
|
39
|
0.5%
|
|
25
|
New Zealand
|
36
|
0.4%
|
|
26
|
Georgia
|
29
|
0.4%
|
|
27
|
Latvia
|
28
|
0.3%
|
|
28
|
Denmark
|
27
|
0.3%
|
|
29
|
Estonia
|
25
|
0.3%
|
|
30
|
Ukraine
|
22
|
0.3%
|
|
31
|
Spain
|
18
|
0.2%
|
|
32
|
Kazakhstan
|
17
|
0.2%
|
|
33
|
Israel
|
6
|
0.1%
|
|
34
|
Monaco
|
3
|
0.0%
|
|
35
|
Turkey
|
2
|
0.0%
|
|
Grand Total
|
8,183
|
100.0%
|
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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.
