UPDATE!

The current foil standings can be found here and the current saber standings here.

While I’ve been busy correcting old results and double-checking fencer names, I took a break recently to glance at how the races for the FIE’s World Cups have been shaping up. This is an opportune time to do so since the senior calendar has been on a break for the past month and resumes this Friday.

After every season, the FIE crowns a World Cup champion in each of the 12 senior events (three weapons; each male and female, and individual and team). This champion is determined based on points earned at World Cups, Grand Prixes, Zonal Championships and World Championships.

These points are awarded based on how a fencer or team finishes at a particular event; so first place receives 32 points, second 26, third 20, etc. with the top 64 scoring points. Each type of event is weighted differently: an individual can earn a maximum of 32 points at a World Cup, 48 at a Grand Prix or Zonal Championship, 80 at a World Championship and 96 at an Olympic Championship. There are also “Satellite” competitions that offer four points to the victor and score the top eight. Teams are awarded a maximum of 64 points at a Team World Cup or Zonal Championship and 128 at a World or Olympic Championship. The top 32 score points in team.

For individuals, the best five results at World Cups and Grand Prixes are tallied (out of usually eight per season), plus the Zonal and World Championships. For teams, the best four World Cups count (out of usually five per season), plus the Zonal and World Championships. The full formula and points tables can be found in the FIE’s organization rules on pages 37 and 38.

This formula is used to calculate the Official FIE Rankings and the World No. 1 at the end of the season earns the title of World Cup winner. Now, the FIE Rankings are tabulated on a rolling basis, meaning that an event’s result is included in the ranking until the same event is contested the next season. So some World Cup results from last season and last season’s Zonal and World Championships currently count towards those rankings (which can be seen here). Since those results won’t count when deciding the World Cup winners after season, I decided to calculate the current rankings based on solely this season’s results (similar to what Formula One racing, NASCAR or golf’s FedEx Cup do).

Because twelve events is a rather large number to summarize in one go, I’ll be posting three summaries over the next three days with each day focusing on different weapons. In addition, I hope to continue calculating the points races when the next season starts up in October.

I’ll look at one ranking table now, however; which countries have obtained the most collective points in all 12 events:

The point totals are a tally of the nations’ point earnings in all events, whether individual or team (note that there is no official FIE ranking of this sort). Italy clearly has the upper hand and will likely see this trend through to the end; however, the real race is for spots six through nine where the countries sit within 300 points of each other (and Poland is close behind them in 10th). It’s worth mentioning that the 11th ranked country, Romania, is over 500 points behind Poland, so those countries in the latter half of the top 10 are quite close and their positions could ultimately change by the time the World Championships finish in July.

In total, 67 nations have had a fencer or team finish in the points this season. By zone, 36 of these nations are from Europe, 14 from Asia/Oceania, 12 from the Americas and five from Africa.

Be sure to check back in the coming days for more!

The current foil standings can be found here.

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