USA retains Global Cup lead ahead of Italy, China
The USA and Norway battled head to head in March as the Snow & Ice sports season reached its climax, shaping the top of the leaderboard in the Global Cup, the ranking of the world’s best sporting nations.
Snow & Ice sports accounted for 90.6% of the 3,399 GSN points awarded in March, shared out between 40 countries (please see below for the monthly Global Cup table). World championships were held in nine Snow & Ice disciplines in March, and three season-long World Cup competitions in winter sports also came to an end during the same month.
There were a few surprises, like Japan winning two sports outright (Figure Skating and Snowboarding), and serial Snow & Ice sports champion Norway only winning one (Cross Country Skiing). The year-to-date Snow & Ice sports ranking still sees Norway in the lead with 627 points, but the USA (479 points), Germany (447 points) and France (401 points) are in close pursuit.
The women’s and men’s Ice Hockey World Championships will be held in April and May respectively, and are each worth over 100 points to the winners, so there is still time for a late surprise and, perhaps, a new winner of the Snow & Ice sports group. Norway took the title in 2023, as it had done for each of the previous five years!
March world championships and winners
Bobsleigh: Germany
Curling: Canada
Figure Skating: Japan
Short Track: South Korea
Skeleton: Germany
Ski Jumping: Austria
Snowboarding: Japan
Speedskating Sprint: Netherlands
Speedskating All Round: Netherlands
March World Cup competitions and winners
Alpine Skiing World Cup: Switzerland
Freestyle Skiing World Cup: USA
Cross Country Skiing World Cup: Norway
Behind the USA in the year-to-date Global Cup table after March, Italy overtook China in second place, thanks to a strong showing (third overall behind Switzerland and Austria) in the Alpine Skiing World Cup, and a solid performance in other Snow & Ice competitions.
At the end of the first quarter of the 2024 sporting year, Italy is also the Global Cup year-to-date’s leading European nation, having come fourth in this particularly metric in 2023. The other current continental leaders are the USA for the Americas, China for Asia, Australia (currently fifth overall in the Global Cup) for Oceania, and South Africa (18th overall in the Global Cup) for Africa.
GLOBAL CUP – March 2024 monthly ranking
|
Place
|
Country
|
Points
|
Points %
|
|
1
|
United States
|
371
|
10.9%
|
|
2
|
Norway
|
347
|
10.2%
|
|
3
|
Switzerland
|
315
|
9.3%
|
|
4
|
Austria
|
257
|
7.6%
|
|
5
|
Germany
|
253
|
7.4%
|
|
6
|
Italy
|
227
|
6.7%
|
|
7
|
Canada
|
212
|
6.2%
|
|
8
|
Japan
|
195
|
5.7%
|
|
9
|
Sweden
|
180
|
5.3%
|
|
10
|
China
|
125
|
3.7%
|
|
11
|
Netherlands
|
123
|
3.6%
|
|
12
|
France
|
119
|
3.5%
|
|
13
|
Kenya
|
108
|
3.2%
|
|
14
|
Great Britain
|
90
|
2.6%
|
|
15
|
South Korea
|
89
|
2.6%
|
|
16
|
Ethiopia
|
81
|
2.4%
|
|
17
|
Australia
|
60
|
1.8%
|
|
18
|
Belgium
|
33
|
1.0%
|
|
19
|
Slovenia
|
27
|
0.8%
|
|
20
|
Finland
|
20
|
0.6%
|
|
21
|
Slovakia
|
20
|
0.6%
|
|
22
|
Ireland
|
16
|
0.5%
|
|
23
|
Croatia
|
14
|
0.4%
|
|
24
|
Latvia
|
12
|
0.4%
|
|
25
|
Kazakhstan
|
12
|
0.4%
|
|
26
|
Hungary
|
11
|
0.3%
|
|
27
|
Czech Republic
|
11
|
0.3%
|
|
28
|
New Zealand
|
10
|
0.3%
|
|
29
|
Poland
|
10
|
0.3%
|
|
30
|
Hong Kong
|
8
|
0.2%
|
|
31
|
Thailand
|
8
|
0.2%
|
|
32
|
Lithuania
|
6
|
0.2%
|
|
33
|
Israel
|
6
|
0.2%
|
|
34
|
Estonia
|
5
|
0.1%
|
|
35
|
Romania
|
4
|
0.1%
|
|
36
|
Georgia
|
4
|
0.1%
|
|
37
|
Denmark
|
3
|
0.1%
|
|
38
|
Mongolia
|
3
|
0.1%
|
|
39
|
India
|
3
|
0.1%
|
|
40
|
Monaco
|
2
|
0.1%
|
|
|
Grand Total
|
3,399
|
100.0%
|
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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
