Norway tops Global Cup after Winter Sports spree

Submitted by nicolamira on 11 April, 2023 - 15:51
Norway won the 2023 Nordic Combined World Championship – pict.: AFP

Norway took the lead in the Global Cup’s year-to-date ranking at the end of March, topping the table of the world’s best sporting nations thanks to a dominant performance in one of the year’s busiest months: 6,502 GSN points were awarded in March, the majority of them (77%) in Snow & Ice sports, while 56 countries scored points in the month.

Norway, the world’s sportiest nation in 2022, won the monthly Global Cup ranking (the full table is below) with a comfortable margin on the USA and Italy, winning the Cross-Country Skiing World Championships and the Nordic Combined World Championships, and finishing second behind Switzerland in the Alpine Skiing World Cup, and behind Germany in the Ski Jumping World Championship.
 
Top-level action on the skating rink saw the Netherlands win both the Short Track World Championships (ahead of South Korea) and the Speedskating Single Distance World Championships (ahead of Canada and the USA), while the USA narrowly beat Japan in the Figure Skating World Championships.
Three other sports held major tournaments in March, away from mountains and ice rinks: in Baseball, Japan won the World Baseball Classic ahead of the USA and Mexico; in Rugby Union, Ireland won the men’s 6 Nations ahead of France; and in the Amateur Boxing women’s World Championships, China topped the table by a whisker ahead of India and Kazakhstan.
 
Remarkably, 33 countries scored points in this tournament, including mighty minnows like Cape Verde (pop. 531,239), Panama, Puerto Rico and Nepal.
In the Global Cup’s year-to-date ranking, Norway leads Germany, off to a strong start this year after finishing disappointingly in ninth place in 2022, and perennial Global Cup champions the USA.
 
GLOBAL CUP – MARCH 2023 MONTHLY RANKING
Place
Country
Points
Points %
1
Norway
757
11.6%
2
United States
505
7.8%
3
Italy
456
7.0%
4
Switzerland
414
6.4%
5
Japan
397
6.1%
6
Canada
389
6.0%
7
France
339
5.2%
8
Sweden
336
5.2%
9
Austria
324
5.0%
10
Netherlands
296
4.6%
11
Germany
251
3.9%
12
China
207
3.2%
13
South Korea
140
2.2%
14
Ethiopia
138
2.1%
15
Australia
126
1.9%
16
Kazakhstan
125
1.9%
17
India
100
1.5%
18
Finland
94
1.4%
19
Poland
94
1.4%
20
Belgium
70
1.1%
21
Great Britain
67
1.0%
22
Slovenia
65
1.0%
23
Colombia
59
0.9%
24
Czech Republic
50
0.8%
25
Kenya
50
0.8%
26
Russia
47
0.7%
27
Slovakia
46
0.7%
28
Mexico
44
0.7%
29
Brazil
41
0.6%
30
Cuba
39
0.6%
31
Thailand
37
0.6%
32
Morocco
36
0.6%
33
Mongolia
32
0.5%
34
Spain
32
0.5%
35
Venezuela
28
0.4%
36
Taiwan
25
0.4%
37
Ukraine
23
0.4%
38
Puerto Rico
23
0.3%
39
Uzbekistan
21
0.3%
40
New Zealand
20
0.3%
41
Bulgaria
18
0.3%
42
Vietnam
16
0.2%
43
Turkey
16
0.2%
44
Belarus
16
0.2%
45
Ireland
16
0.2%
46
Hungary
15
0.2%
47
Azerbaijan
11
0.2%
48
Mozambique
10
0.2%
49
Algeria
10
0.2%
50
Estonia
8
0.1%
51
Croatia
6
0.1%
52
Cape Verde
5
0.1%
53
Nepal
5
0.1%
54
Panama
5
0.1%
55
Lithuania
4
0.1%
56
Denmark
1
0.0%
Grand Total
6,502
100.0%
 
Follow GSN also on Facebook and Twitter and keep up with the latest in the quest for the world’s best sporting nation!
 
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.
 
Bookmark/Search this post with