USA leads Global Cup after February, Austria wins Alpine Skiing Worlds

Marcel Hirscher (Austria) won slalom gold at the Alpine Skiing World Championships in Are, Sweden

February was a busy, hotly contested sporting month, featuring a spate of tournaments ranging from the men’s Football Asian Cup to

world championships in a plethora of Snow & Ice sports (Alpine and Freestyle Skiing, Snowboarding and Speedskating).

The monthly ranking (see table below) was won by Russia, runner-up to the Netherlands in the Speedskating Single Distance World Championships, fifth in the Freestyle Skiing World Championships and winner of the Bandy World Championship.
 
Global Cup – February 2019 monthly ranking
Place
Country
Points
Points %
1
Russia
275
8.0%
2
Japan
273
8.0%
3
United States
265
7.7%
4
Netherlands
241
7.0%
5
Austria
228
6.6%
6
Norway
197
5.7%
7
Switzerland
194
5.6%
8
Canada
190
5.5%
9
Italy
182
5.3%
10
France
163
4.8%
11
Qatar
160
4.7%
12
Germany
128
3.7%
13
Sweden
97
2.8%
14
United Arab Emirates
88
2.6%
15
Iran
88
2.6%
16
China
86
2.5%
17
Australia
79
2.3%
18
South Korea
72
2.1%
19
Slovakia
61
1.8%
20
Slovenia
57
1.7%
21
Kazakhstan
49
1.4%
22
Belgium
41
1.2%
23
Vietnam
40
1.2%
24
Finland
40
1.2%
25
Czech Republic
32
0.9%
26
Great Britain
25
0.7%
27
Ukraine
21
0.6%
28
Belarus
19
0.6%
29
Spain
10
0.3%
30
Estonia
10
0.3%
31
New Zealand
9
0.3%
32
Poland
8
0.2%
33
Denmark
3
0.1%
34
Bulgaria
2
0.1%
 
Grand Total
3,431
100.0%
 
The monthly top three were very close, as Japan added a runner-up spot (behind surprising Qatar) in the men’s Football Asian Cup to a third place in the Speedskating Single Distance World Championships, and the USA won the Snowboarding World Championships and finished second in the Freestyle Skiing World Championships, after Canada.
 
It was enough for the USA to carve a slim, 39-point lead over Japan in the Global Cup’s year-to-date table. The USA was 123 points behind Norway in second place this time last year. The fight at the top is instead much more heated now, with 6 countries within 88 points.
 
In February’s biggest Snow & Ice sports tournament, the Alpine Skiing World Championships, the honours went to Austria (see table below), with an emphatic 21.2% share of the points, ahead of runner-up Norway (12.7%) and Italy (12.6%). Austria won the men’s ranking in the tournament, bagging 31.8% of the points on offer, was second in the mixed events and fifth in the women’s, won by the USA.
 
Alpine Skiing World Championships 2019
Place
Country
Points
Points %
1
Austria
182
21.2%
2
Norway
109
12.7%
3
Italy
108
12.6%
4
Switzerland
104
12.1%
5
France
91
10.6%
6
United States
64
7.5%
7
Slovakia
53
6.2%
8
Germany
52
6.1%
9
Slovenia
44
5.1%
10
Sweden
33
3.8%
11
Canada
18
2.1%
 
Grand Total
858
100.0%