USA cements Global Cup lead, Germany closer to second place

P. Ferrand-Prévot (France) won the women’s elite race at the MTB World Champ. (pict.: Rob Jones)

The USA has added to its year-to-date Global Cup lead, after finishing eighth in the October monthly ranking, while second-placed Norway failed to score points in the month, and third-placed Germany edged a little closer to the Scandinavian country.

The renewed surge of the Covid-19 pandemic once again meant that the international sporting calendar was stripped of many tournaments, resulting in only 1,213 GSN points being awarded in the month. France topped the monthly table (please see below) by winning the Mountain Bike World Championships ahead of Switzerland and Great Britain, and picking up useful points in Rugby Union too.
 
Success in the Giro d’Italia helped Team GBR finish second in the month, while third-placed Spain picked up 77% of its October points courtesy of victory and another top-eight placement in the French Men’s Tennis Open. Ethiopia, fourth in the monthly table, narrowly won the Half-Marathon World Championship - a tournament tracked by GSN for the first time – ahead of Kenya and Uganda.
 
There are only two months left in the year, and fewer than 20 GSN-tracked tournaments still scheduled as of now – of course the picture is changing constantly. Among the big point-scoring events still to take place, the Karate World Championships, and the Golf Masters and women’s US Open tournaments. While the USA’s first place in the Global Cup, and the title of world’s best sporting nation, seem reasonably secure, there is still a great deal of uncertainty for the other top five places, so keep following us to find out how this extraordinary sporting year will finish.
 
Global Cup – monthly ranking October 2020
Place
Country
Points
Points %
1
France
122
10.0%
2
Great Britain
95
7.8%
3
Spain
82
6.7%
4
Ethiopia
78
6.4%
5
Italy
78
6.4%
6
Kenya
72
5.9%
7
Switzerland
68
5.6%
8
United States
66
5.4%
9
Argentina
55
4.5%
10
Poland
52
4.3%
11
Germany
49
4.0%
12
Australia
46
3.8%
13
Uganda
45
3.7%
14
Serbia
40
3.3%
15
Czech Republic
40
3.3%
16
Austria
37
3.0%
17
South Korea
36
3.0%
18
Greece
28
2.3%
19
Ukraine
17
1.4%
20
Canada
16
1.3%
21
Russia
13
1.0%
22
Slovenia
12
1.0%
23
Netherlands
12
1.0%
24
Japan
11
0.9%
25
Portugal
10
0.8%
26
Ireland
10
0.8%
27
Sweden
8
0.7%
28
Turkey
6
0.5%
29
South Africa
6
0.5%
30
Denmark
6
0.5%
31
Israel
2
0.2%
 
Grand Total
1,213
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.