Norway Wins March Global Cup Ranking

Therese Johaug (Norway) won three golds at the 2019 Cross Country Skiing World Championships

March 2019 was the year’s first bumper sporting month, with 7,999 GSN points awarded. Norway won the monthly Global Cup ranking, ahead of Russia and Germany (see full table below), thanks to a dominant performance in Snow & Ice sports, which altogether accounted for 70.6% of all points on offer in March.

The month’s other main point-scoring sport was Track Cycling, whose World Championships were narrowly won by Australia (252 points) ahead of last year’s winners the Netherlands (238 points ) and Germany.
 
Global Cup – March 2019 monthly ranking
Place
Country
Points
Points %
1
Norway
1,037
13.0%
2
Russia
659
8.2%
3
Germany
650
8.1%
4
Italy
573
7.2%
5
France
540
6.8%
6
Austria
422
5.3%
7
Sweden
392
4.9%
8
Netherlands
341
4.3%
9
Switzerland
327
4.1%
10
United States
268
3.4%
11
Australia
268
3.4%
12
Japan
259
3.2%
13
Ethiopia
209
2.6%
14
Great Britain
179
2.2%
15
South Korea
171
2.1%
16
Canada
165
2.1%
17
Kenya
157
2.0%
18
Slovakia
124
1.6%
19
China
115
1.4%
20
Spain
99
1.2%
21
Uganda
94
1.2%
22
Finland
92
1.2%
23
Poland
86
1.1%
24
Ukraine
84
1.1%
25
Egypt
78
1.0%
26
New Zealand
76
0.9%
27
Slovenia
68
0.9%
28
Czech Republic
64
0.8%
29
Hong Kong
51
0.6%
30
Denmark
49
0.6%
31
Ireland
44
0.6%
32
Belgium
35
0.4%
33
Latvia
32
0.4%
34
Kazakhstan
23
0.3%
35
Eritrea
20
0.3%
36
Mexico
18
0.2%
37
Bulgaria
18
0.2%
38
Portugal
14
0.2%
39
Bahrain
12
0.2%
40
Liechtenstein
12
0.2%
41
Hungary
11
0.1%
42
Lithuania
10
0.1%
43
Greece
10
0.1%
44
Burundi
8
0.1%
45
Morocco
8
0.1%
46
Colombia
5
0.1%
47
India
5
0.1%
48
Malaysia
4
0.1%
49
Trinidad and Tobago
4
0.1%
50
Barbados
4
0.1%
51
Andorra
2
0.0%
52
Belarus
2
0.0%
53
Romania
1
0.0%
 
Grand Total
7,999
100.0%
 
Norway swept the board in most of the month’s Snow & Ice sports events:
- Biathlon: winner of the World Championships and the men’s World Cup
- Cross Country Skiing: winner of the World Championships and the women’s overall World Cup
- Nordic Combined: winner of the World Championships
- Ski Jumping: winner of the women’s World Cup, and fourth in the World Championships (won by Germany).
As a result, the plucky Scandinavians are now leading the Snow & Ice sports ranking (see table below) with a 14.3% share of the points, ahead of Russia and Germany, and are hot favourites for repeating last year’s triumph in this sport group. No country has ever won back-to-back Snow & Ice sports titles in GSN history.
The only two big Snow & Ice tournaments remaining this year are the women’s and men’s Ice Hockey World Championships, respectively in April and May and worth 100 and 120 points respectively to the winners. None of the three top Ice Hockey nations in the last two years, Sweden, the USA and Canada, would manage to upstage Norway in the Snow & Ice sports ranking by winning either or even both tournaments.
Snow & Ice sports – year-to-date ranking as of 31.3.2019
Place
Country
Points
Points %
1
Norway
1,234
14.3%
2
Russia
875
10.1%
3
Germany
740
8.5%
4
Austria
693
8.0%
5
Italy
650
7.5%
6
France
570
6.6%
7
United States
519
6.0%
8
Switzerland
506
5.8%
9
Sweden
489
5.6%
10
Japan
336
3.9%
11
Canada
325
3.7%
12
Netherlands
308
3.6%
13
South Korea
203
2.3%
14
Slovakia
183
2.1%
15
China
157
1.8%
16
Finland
132
1.5%
17
Slovenia
125
1.4%
18
Czech Republic
90
1.0%
19
Ukraine
75
0.9%
20
Kazakhstan
72
0.8%
21
Spain
70
0.8%
22
Poland
63
0.7%
23
Latvia
53
0.6%
24
Australia
45
0.5%
25
Great Britain
43
0.5%
26
Belarus
21
0.2%
27
Bulgaria
20
0.2%
28
Liechtenstein
12
0.1%
29
Hungary
11
0.1%
30
Belgium
11
0.1%
31
Estonia
10
0.1%
32
New Zealand
9
0.1%
33
Denmark
3
0.0%
34
Andorra
2
0.0%
35
Romania
2
0.0%
 
Grand Total
8,656
100.0%

Please note that, at the time of publication, the March monthly results were not yet reflected in the tables on the GSN website.