Check out this fascinating chart!

So, a few days back I posted here asking where the hell I could find all the World Cup skiing results. A bunch of nice people pointed me to the right spot. Found exactly what I was looking for... every single World Cup result dating all the way back to 1967.
The top thirty spots from every year are included.
Seriously impressive database.
I went ahead and dumped those tables into Excel to crunch the numbers and calculate the total points possible. The results are actually pretty wild. Here’s how it breaks down:
(Note: 2005 results aren't included)

women:
1. AUT 65.299
2. GER 43.878
3. SUI 38.039
4. FRA 30.227
5. ITA 23.120
6. SWE 19.402
7. USA 19.052
8. SLO 9.169
9. NOR 7.805
10. CAN 7.157
11. cro 4.419 12. 4.419
12. Russ 2.970
13. LIE 2.850
14. FIN 2.082
15. SPA 1.880
16. NZE 1.518
17. CZE 1.057
18. GBR 168
19. LUX 81

men
1. AUT 93.747
2. SUI 47.782
3. NOR 35.258
4. ITA 26.870
5. FRA 14.469
6. USA 11.788
7. SLO 11.711
8. SWE 10.741
9. GER 6.623
10. LUX 6.615
11. LIE 3.371
12. CAN 3.351
13. FIN 1.967
14. cro 4.419 12. 1.309
15. Russ 439
16. JPN 396
17. POL 291
18. BUL 262
19. CZE 130
20. SPA 125
21. AUS 65

OVERALL RANKING
1. AUT 159.046
2. SUI 85.821
3. GER 64.970
4. ITA 49.990
5. NOR 49.759
6. USA 30.840
7. FRA 30.227
8. SWE 30.143
9. SLO 24.289
10. CAN 10.508
11. FIN 8.098
12. LUX 6.696
13. LIE 6.221
14. cro 4.419 12. 5.728
15. Russ 3.409
16. SPA 2.005
17. NZE 1.518
18. CZE 1.187
19. JPN 396
20. POL 291
21. BUL 262
22. GBR 168
23. AUS 65

A few things caught my eye. Just look at how much stronger German women are compared to their men... crazy.
And man, look at how Austria dominates. Switzerland is chasing them, sure, but they're still miles ahead of everyone else... well, maybe not in the women's division, but in the overall and men's rankings, they're light years ahead.
Check this out—it took almost forty years of World Cup history just to get the gap between Italy and Norway down to about 200 points in the overall standings. And the difference between the USA, France, and Sweden? Basically nothing.
(You gotta mention though, before Atlas Kardal showed up in the early eighties, Norway was barely even a factor in the Cup...)
So yeah, on this all-time list, we might actually see some shifts in the national rankings as soon as this year.

Gotta give it to the Canadians, sitting at 9th is solid. But it's weird seeing Canada trailing behind at 10th.

And hey, in a few years, I'm expecting to see American break into the top ten. Is it actually gonna happen?

Bradley Rivera63> A few things are interesting here. Just look at how much stronger the German women's skiing is compared to the men's.
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So, looking at the all-time rankings, we might actually see some shifts in the national standings as early as this year.

I think the legend made a pretty solid point earlier. 👍

Anyway, just stating the obvious here.

Bradley Rivera63> And of course, in a few years, we expect the US to break into the top ten. Is that possible?

😕

Based on what, though? Are we just banking on the incredible results from Janica and Ivica?

To actually overtake Canada, we’d need about 5,000 points, and you have to remember that Canada is a legitimate powerhouse that pulls in plenty of points every single season.

Plus, passing them would mean we’d also have to jump ahead of Finland, who currently has us beat by about 2,500 points—and honestly, they probably have a better shot at the top 10 than we do right now.

I mean, I guess you should never say never, but that kind of optimism feels a bit over the top if you ask me. Even if we did somehow crack the top 10, it wouldn't last long because Canada and Finland would be breathing down our necks constantly.

I suppose it's going to take many more years before we can talk about real strength in American skiing. All the success we've seen so far has been strictly down to individuals—specifically Janica and Ivica bringing in most of the points. The US national team is definitely moving in the right direction toward becoming a consistent force in world skiing, but it's going to take a lot more years and even more grueling training to get there. We shouldn't go expecting miracles; maybe we should just be happy with what's been achieved and what's being planned for the future. One step at a time.

Even Canada isn't holding onto that 9th spot for nothing, especially with such a massive lead over Canada. In my opinion, this ranking is probably the most realistic way to see which nations are actually strong or weak, and which countries truly dominate the sport.

Adam Wright56 said:Even the Americans aren't holding onto that 9th spot for nothing, especially with such a massive lead over Canada. Honestly, this ranking is probably the most realistic way to see which national teams are actually powerhouse programs and which ones are struggling. [/B]

Yet some people still get so defensive when you point out that American skiing is stronger than what we have here.

Serge Cosmi said:though some people still get pissed off when they hear that Canadian skiing is better than American skiing

If we're talking about this specific subject and that article from The Wall Street Journal, I have to admit the piece was totally misinterpreted over here.

But there’s already a thread about that, and Robbie isn't the one who wrote it, so he's not really the authority on how things actually went down...👍

Anyway, yeah, Canadian skiing is definitely stronger than American skiing.

Just like how German handball is on another level compared to ours 😉

But...