USA take lead in Global Cup and Winter Sports

The USA surged forward by emphatically winning the month of April, and have also taken the lead in the Winter Sports table, in one of the most exciting races for the snow & ice title in recent years.

 

As shown by the table below, at the end of April the USA have grabbed a 3-point lead over Norway, who lost the 169-point cushion they had at the end of March by failing to score points in any of the three snow & ice tournaments in April (in Curling, Figure Skating and Ice Hockey).

 

Crucially, the USA took gold in the Women’s Ice Hockey World Championships on home soil, and with it a very useful 140 points. Added to another 32 picked up at the Figure Skating World Championships, won by Canada with the USA in fourth place, it was enough to pip Norway to the temporary first place in the Winter Sports ranking.

 

WINTER SPORTS April 2017

Place	Country	Points	Points %
1	United States	960	9.2%
2	Norway	957	9.2%
3	Germany	885	8.5%
4	Canada	792	7.6%
5	Austria	781	7.5%
6	France	712	6.8%
7	Switzerland	665	6.4%
8	Russia	655	6.3%
9	Italy	572	5.5%
10	Sweden	437	4.2%
11	Netherlands	372	3.6%
12	Finland	370	3.6%
13	South Korea	309	3.0%
14	Japan	262	2.5%
15	China	251	2.4%
16	Czech Republic	251	2.4%
17	Slovenia	146	1.4%
18	Great Britain	138	1.3%
19	Spain	136	1.3%
20	Australia	125	1.2%
21	Hungary	92	0.9%
22	Poland	74	0.7%
23	Ukraine	66	0.6%
24	Slovakia	58	0.6%
25	Kazakhstan	55	0.5%
26	New Zealand	52	0.5%
27	Belgium	51	0.5%
28	Belarus	49	0.5%
29	Liechtenstein	48	0.5%
30	Bulgaria	47	0.5%
31	Latvia	31	0.3%
32	Andorra	4	0.0%
33	Chile	1	0.0%
34	Denmark	1	0.0%
		10,401	100.0%

 

But there may be a sting in the tail for the USA: at the Winter Sports season’s last tournament, the Men’s Ice Hockey World Championships currently being contested in France, the USA lost in the quarter finals while Canada, fourth in the Winter Sports ranking after April, have clinched a place in the final, scheduled on Sunday 22 May (they will face either Sweden or Finland). A victory would earn Canada 180 points, their current gap from the leader being 168 points.

Norway are instead out of the reckoning, as they failed to qualify for the Ice Hockey Worlds.

 

Of course, the USA will scoop up a handful of points from their quarter finals loss too, but the tournament’s final ranking isn’t yet definitive, so Canada still have a slim chance, provided they clinch the world title of course, of staging a last-gasp burst and reclaiming the Winter Sports crown they won in 2016 ahead of the USA and Russia.