Canadian Cyclist

 

May 17/12 12:13 pm - Canada Set for Two Olympic Spots Each for Men & Women in MTB


Posted by Editoress on 05/17/12
 

The UCI has published updated standings for nation rankings to include last weekend's World Cup in Nove Mesto na Morave, Czech Republic. While the official qualification period does not end until after this weekend's World Cup, the nation rankings are unlikely to change in any meaningful way - meaning how many Olympic spots each nation receives. We should also caution that none of the following is official until the UCI and IOC publish the 'official' standings in a few weeks.

The ranking is based on a combination of the combined points for the top-three riders of each nation for the periods May 23, 2010 to May 22, 2011 PLUS for the period May 23, 2011 to May 22, 2012. The UCI has just published updated rankings as of May 15, 2012 for the current qualifying period.

For the women, the top eight nations get two spots, and 9 through 18 get one spot. For the men, the top five get three spots each, 9 to 13 ranked get two spots and 14 to 24 each get one spot. Of course, this does not include positions that are qualified through winning Continental Championships (more on that below).

The table below provides the full breakdown, but Canada is ranked number one in women, and is 280 points ahead of second place Switzerland, so they are not going to lose any positions, no matter what the outcome of the races this weekend. The U.S. will also be sending two athletes, despite the loss of points-getting machine Willow Koerber / Rockwell after she retired, because all of her points from 2010-2011 still count. Similarly, the last of the top-8 - Norway - has 358 points on Russia, so they are safe. In the last qualifying spot is Denmark, with a comfortable buffer of 118 points over 19th place Hungary.

Now, as mentioned above, this does not include Continental Championship results, which shuffle things a bit. For example, New Zealand won the Oceania Championship, but they already have qualified through nation rankings, so that spot goes to the next nation in the Continental Championships, which was Australia (who didn't qualify anyone through nations ranking).

On the men's side it is similar, with the top-five - led by powerhouse Switzerland - all getting three spots on the start line. Fifith place Germany has over 1000 points on sixth Italy, so they are all safe. Six through 13 in the rankings get two spots, and that includes both the U.S. (8th) and Canada (11th). Belgium is the final nation to get two spots, and 14th place Olympic host Great Britain is 443 points in arrears to them, so the Brits won't be making that up. In the final one spot group, Cyprus gets the last opening under nation ranking, and they are 118 points ahead of Portugal, so they are also pretty safe.

As with the women, the Continental Championships will add some missing nations, such as New Zealand, who didn't qualify through nation ranking, but were the second nation in the Oceania Championships, behind already qualified Australia. In the Americas, Todd Wells won, but the U.S. is already qualified, so it goes to Argentina, who had a rider finish second at the Pan Am Championships (and are not qualified through nation ranking.

Clear? Well, it still isn't done, because some nations may turn down some of their spots, for example, if they receive two spots and only one rider meets their national criteria. In that case, the UCI/IOC will re-allocate any such spots to nations next on the list, under a complicated formula.

 

 

Women Total as of May 15 2012     Men Total as of May 15 2012    
Rank Country Points Olympic Spots   Rank Country Points Olympic Spots
1 Canada 7661 2   1 Switzerland 9838 3
2 Switzerland 7381 2   2 France 7866 3
3 France 6665 2   3 Czech Republic 7637 3
4 Poland 6076 2   4 Spain 6135 3
5 United States 5922 2   5 Germany 5844 3
6 Slovenia 5533 2   6 Italy 4819 2
7 Germany 5470 2   7 Netherlands 4290 2
8 Norway 4888 2   8 United States 3877 2
9 Russia 4540 1   9 Austria 3772 2
10 Italy 4093 1   10 South Africa 3689 2
11 Czech Republic 4061 1   11 Canada 3503 2
12 Austria 3957 1   12 Poland 3314 2
13 New Zealand 3473 1   13 Belgium 3223 2
14 Netherlands 3473 1   14 Great Britain 2780 1
15 Great Britain 3186 1   15 Sweden 2525 1
16 Ukraine 3184 1   16 Australia 2432 1
17 Sweden 3022 1   17 Japan 2307 1
18 Denmark 2927 1   18 Ukraine 2024 1
19 Hungary 2809 0   19 Brazil 2007 1
20 Spain 2250 0   20 Russia 1904 1
21 Australia 2105 0   21 Hungary 1860 1
22 Turkey 2104 0   22 Argentina 1821 1
23 Japan 2095 0   23 Greece 1779 1
24 Slovakia 1882 0   24 Cyprus 1687 1
25 China 1694 0   25 Portugal 1569 0
26 Brazil 1584 0   26 Denmark 1538 0
27 South Africa 1530 0   27 New Zealand 1460 0
28 Israel 1422 0   28 Turkey 1433 0
29 Argentina 1291 0   29 Finland 1184 0
30 Estonia 1277 0   30 Chile 1150 0
31 Mexico 1259 0   31 Norway 1142 0
32 Colombia 1150 0   32 Slovakia 1098 0
33 Belgium 1144 0   33 Colombia 1067 0
34 Portugal 987 0   34 Estonia 1032 0
35 Chile 965 0   35 Namibia 986 0
36 Costa Rica 863 0   36 Israel 948 0
37 Serbia 840 0   37 Serbia 938 0
38 Venezuela 782 0   38 Costa Rica 802 0
39 Latvia 732 0   39 Iran 763 0
40 Ireland 685 0   40 Venezuela 746 0
41 Finland 681 0   41 Mexico 743 0
42 Greece 639 0   42 Hong Kong, China 680 0
43 Puerto Rico 634 0   43 Slovenia 678 0
44 Croatia 564 0   44 China 672 0
45 El Salvador 540 0   45 Puerto Rico 671 0
46 Cyprus 504 0   46 Kazakhstan 622 0
47 Malaysia 475 0   47 Ireland 612 0
48 Korea 365 0   48 Croatia 609 0
49 Namibia 295 0   49 Latvia 568 0
50 Ecuador 261 0   50 Romania 556 0
51 San Marino 254 0   51 Georgia 554 0
52 Romania 233 0   52 El Salvador 550 0
53 Vietnam 165 0   53 Lesotho 543 0
54 Zimbabwe 110 0   54 Malaysia 367 0
55 Lesotho 110 0   55 Zimbabwe 318 0
56 Bulgaria 110 0   56 Korea 283 0
57 Dominican Republic 101 0   57 Thailand 260 0
58 Chinese Taipei 75 0   58 Indonesia 260 0
59 Thailand 60 0   59 Bulgaria 238 0
60 Nepal 45 0   60 Rwanda 179 0
61 Malta 36 0   61 Chinese Taipei 77 0
62 Peru 12 0   62 Nepal 74 0
63 Lithuania 12 0   63 Ecuador 68 0
          64 Mauritius 60 0
          65 Brunei Darussalam 60 0
          66 Philippines 55 0
          67 Guam 55 0
          68 Guatemala 47 0
          69 Montenegro 46 0
          70 Vietnam 40 0
          71 Luxembourg 32 0
          72 Bolivia 22 0
          73 Singapore 21 0
          74 Lebanon 12 0
          75 Dominican Republic 10 0
          76 Cuba 6 0
          77 Mongolia 2 0
          78 Belarus 1 0

 

 

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