How para cross-country skiing rankings work

World Cup points (individual races)

Points depend on how many skiers finish in the category:

With five or more finishers, the points continue: 6th 66, 7th 62, 8th 58, 9th 54, 10th 50, 11th 47, 12th 44, 13th 41, 14th 38, 15th 35, 16th 32, 17th 29, 18th 26, 19th 24, 20th 22, then down by 2 a place to 2 for 30th.

• In distance races, only skiers within 30% of the winner's adjusted time score.
• Sprint qualification gives bonus points to the top 10 (15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1), if within 30% of the fastest qualifier.
• Relays and team events: 100 for the winning team, 95, 90, down to 22 for 30th.
• Multi-stage tours (at least five races in one region): each stage gives 50 to 1, and the final tour standing gives 250, 300 or 350 to the winner for a five-, six- or seven-race tour.

Standings: the overall World Cup adds all points; the Nations Cup adds every skier's points (men and women) plus relay points (one team per nation per event). Ties: most wins, then most second places and so on, then the current FIS points; if still level, both get a trophy.

FIS points

Race points: P = (Tx ÷ To − 1) × F, using calculated times, where F is normally 800 (2,800 on courses that do not meet the climbing standards, and for roller-ski races).

FIS's own example: a winner in 10:08.3 (608.3 seconds) and a skier in 10:33.0 (633.0 seconds): (633.0 ÷ 608.3 − 1) × 800 = 32.48.

Race penalty: take the FIS points of the top five finishers; the best three are added and divided by 3.5. A skier with no FIS points counts as 400; missing skiers in a small field count as 400.

FIS's own example: only two skiers, with 265.45 and 124.15: (265.45 + 124.15 + 400) ÷ 3.5 = 225.60.

Minimum and fixed penalties:

Race result = race points + penalty.

The points list: the average of the best five results in the last 12 months. With fewer results the average is multiplied up: four results × 1.1, three × 1.2, two × 1.3, one × 1.4 (minimum 4 points). Results last 365 days; a skier who does not race for more than a year loses their points.

Breaks: injury status adds 22% (between 4 and 26 points) to the points held before the injury, for up to 365 days. Maternity protection keeps the points unchanged on return within 12 months of the birth, or adds the same 22% between 12 and 24 months.

A worked example

Made up to show the arithmetic. At a World Cup race (penalty 0) a sitting skier finishes 9.0% behind the winner's calculated time: race points 0.09 × 800 = 72.00. Their other recent results are 80.00, 95.50 and 110.25 (four results in all). Average of four: (72.00 + 80.00 + 95.50 + 110.25) ÷ 4 = 89.44; × 1.1 = 98.38 FIS points.

Where the document disagrees with itself

The tie example in 14.3.5 says three skiers tied for 12th each get 58 points and the next skier gets 52 for 15th.44 and 15th place 35 (58 is the points for 8th; 52 is not in the table).