USA tops Global Cup halfway through sporting year
Halfway through the sporting year 2019, Global Cup champion the USA has finally put its nose in front in the ranking of the world’s best sporting nations.
For five months, mighty minnow Norway led the pack on the strength of another astonishingly successful Snow & Ice Sports campaign, but by topping the June monthly ranking in some style, the USA is now back in the driving seat.
The USA’s margin on its closest pursuers is actually slimmer than a year ago, owing to Norway’s Winter Sports achievements and to Russia’s resurgence. While the USA has almost exactly the same number of points it had the end of June 2018, Norway has 159 points more than last year, and Russia a whopping 893 more (or 299 more, if one counts the points earned by OAR at last year’s Winter Olympics) – see the tables below.
Of the current 20 top nations in the Global Cup, Russia is the most improved country, up 9 positions in the table compared to 2018. Cross Country Skiing, Taekwondo, Speedskating and Ice Hockey are the sports driving Russia forward so far this year. Ethiopia, currently in 19th position, is the second-best improver among the top 20, with a gain of 7 places. France, Italy, Japan and South Korea (the latter up 6 places) are also on the rise, while China, Switzerland, Canada and Sweden enjoyed a less successful first half of the year than in 2018.
January – June 2018 January – June 2019
|
Place
|
Country
|
Points
|
Place
|
Country
|
Points
|
pos chg
|
|
1
|
United States
|
1,712
|
1
|
United States
|
1,723
|
=
|
|
2
|
Norway
|
1,257
|
2
|
Norway
|
1,416
|
=
|
|
3
|
Germany
|
1,079
|
3
|
Russia
|
1,332
|
9
|
|
4
|
Canada
|
944
|
4
|
Germany
|
1,158
|
-1
|
|
5
|
Switzerland
|
801
|
5
|
France
|
1,086
|
2
|
|
6
|
Sweden
|
780
|
6
|
Italy
|
913
|
4
|
|
7
|
France
|
726
|
7
|
Japan
|
856
|
4
|
|
8
|
China
|
700
|
8
|
South Korea
|
821
|
6
|
|
9
|
Netherlands
|
678
|
9
|
Netherlands
|
820
|
=
|
|
10
|
Italy
|
652
|
10
|
China
|
795
|
-2
|
|
11
|
Japan
|
618
|
11
|
Switzerland
|
784
|
-6
|
|
12
|
Russia
|
598
|
12
|
Canada
|
749
|
-8
|
|
13
|
Austria
|
587
|
13
|
Austria
|
744
|
=
|
|
14
|
South Korea
|
511
|
14
|
Sweden
|
685
|
-8
|
|
15
|
Great Britain
|
505
|
15
|
Great Britain
|
672
|
=
|
|
16
|
OAR
|
435
|
16
|
Australia
|
583
|
2
|
|
17
|
Finland
|
376
|
17
|
Spain
|
435
|
4
|
|
18
|
Australia
|
318
|
18
|
Kenya
|
382
|
2
|
|
19
|
Czech Republic
|
257
|
19
|
Ethiopia
|
368
|
7
|
|
20
|
Kenya
|
254
|
20
|
Finland
|
332
|
-3
|
As we wrote earlier, the result of the Women’s Football World Cup will have a potentially decisive impact on the sporting year 2019. Thanks to today’s victory in the final against the Netherlands, defending champion the USA earned 420 GSN points (which aren’t reflected in the GSN tables at the time of publication) and, though there is still a way to go before the end of the year, has staked a very strong claim to becoming Global Cup champion again.
