Norway tops leaderboard thanks to Winter Sports prowess
Snow & Ice sports stole the show in March, awarding 95.3% of the monthly GSN points on offer. Of the 17 major international tournaments tracked in March by GSN for the Global Cup, the ranking of the world’s best sporting nations, only two weren’t played on snow or ice: the Tokyo Marathon and the Rugby men’s 6 Nations tournament.
World Championships were instead held in March for a plethora of winter sports (14 of them), from Bandy to Ski Mountaineering, in addition to the Alpine Skiing World Cup. Below is the list of all these Snow & Ice tournaments, with their winners.
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS MARCH 2025 - WINNERS
Ski Mountaineering: France
Cross Country Skiing: Norway
Nordic Combined: Norway
Ski Jumping: Norway
Bobsleigh: Germany
Skeleton: Great Britain
Speedskating (single distance): Netherlands
Short Track: Canada
Curling: Canada
Freestyle Skiing: USA
Bandy: Sweden
Snowboarding: Japan
Figure Skating: USA
Alpine Skiing World Cup: Switzerland.
As a result, serial Per Capita Cup and Snow & Ice sports category winner Norway is now top of the Global Cup leaderboard, with a 295-point margin over the USA. Behind them, five Alpine nations plus Canada and Japan make up the top 10.
Unsurprisingly, Norway is also leading the Snow & Ice sports ranking after March (please see the table below), with a comfortable margin over Switzerland and the USA. The title race in this category is still open however, with the women’s and men’s Ice Hockey World Championships to come in April and May respectively, awarding 100 and 120 points to the respective winners.
SNOW & ICE SPORTS – Ranking after March 2025
|
Place
|
Country
|
Points
|
Points %
|
|
1
|
Norway
|
979
|
14.1%
|
|
2
|
Switzerland
|
611
|
8.8%
|
|
3
|
United States
|
610
|
8.8%
|
|
4
|
France
|
547
|
7.9%
|
|
5
|
Italy
|
544
|
7.8%
|
|
6
|
Germany
|
527
|
7.6%
|
|
7
|
Sweden
|
509
|
7.3%
|
|
8
|
Canada
|
364
|
5.3%
|
|
9
|
Japan
|
336
|
4.8%
|
|
10
|
Austria
|
322
|
4.6%
|
|
11
|
Netherlands
|
272
|
3.9%
|
|
12
|
Finland
|
199
|
2.9%
|
|
13
|
China
|
141
|
2.0%
|
|
14
|
Great Britain
|
102
|
1.5%
|
|
15
|
Slovenia
|
96
|
1.4%
|
|
16
|
Czech Republic
|
96
|
1.4%
|
|
17
|
South Korea
|
87
|
1.3%
|
|
18
|
Poland
|
75
|
1.1%
|
|
19
|
New Zealand
|
70
|
1.0%
|
|
20
|
Belgium
|
68
|
1.0%
|
|
21
|
Kazakhstan
|
57
|
0.8%
|
|
22
|
Australia
|
54
|
0.8%
|
|
23
|
Ukraine
|
47
|
0.7%
|
|
24
|
Spain
|
36
|
0.5%
|
|
25
|
Croatia
|
32
|
0.5%
|
|
26
|
Latvia
|
30
|
0.4%
|
|
27
|
Brazil
|
25
|
0.4%
|
|
28
|
Hungary
|
25
|
0.4%
|
|
29
|
Bulgaria
|
20
|
0.3%
|
|
30
|
Georgia
|
10
|
0.1%
|
|
31
|
Slovakia
|
10
|
0.1%
|
|
32
|
Albania
|
10
|
0.1%
|
|
33
|
Estonia
|
9
|
0.1%
|
|
34
|
Turkey
|
3
|
0.0%
|
|
35
|
Romania
|
3
|
0.0%
|
|
36
|
Denmark
|
2
|
0.0%
|
|
37
|
Uzbekistan
|
1
|
0.0%
|
|
Grand Total
|
6,928
|
100.0%
|
Follow GSN also on Facebook and X (formerly 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
