Wondrous Emma’s phenomenal display tops a glorious line-up
2021 has been a fantastic sporting year both at home and abroad with magical performances, highs, lows and everything in between. Here are eight moments that sum up the past 12 months perfectly...
EMMA RADUCANU WINS
THE US OPEN September 11
TEENAGE qualifiers – particularly British ones – do not win Grand
Slam titles but Emma Raducanu rewrote the rule book at Flushing Meadows.to do so without dropping a set was utterly phenomenal.
Aged just 18, Raducanu sent a thunderbolt through tennis with her performances at the US Open.
She had hinted at her rich promise with her run atwimbledon just after sitting her A-levels but her retirement there with breathing difficulties on Centre Court raised questions over how she might handle the stress of big tennis occasions.
She dismissed those doubts in the same way she might dispatch a second serve in a golden fortnight in New York that culminated in her unforgettable final win over Canada’s Leylah Fernandez.
Astonishing.
GIANLUIGI DONNARUMMA’S PENALTY SAVE
July 11
THE giant goalkeeper won Italy the Euros and broke English hearts, not least that of poor Bukayo Saka, with the deciding shootout stop on a harrowing night atwembley.
It was Italy’s year, what with a glittering Olympics crowned by Marcell Jacobs’ shock 100m victory and Matteo Berrettini reaching the men’s singles final atwimbledon.the Italians even won Eurovision and the Bake-off.
But it was the football triumph which meant most and as the best team, Roberto Mancini’s men deserved it.as for England, their enriching journey to the final made a nation proud.
OLYMPIC HIGH JUMP BROTHERHOOD
August 1
TOKYO 2020, held in 2021 in deserted stadia, should never have worked but somehow it did.
In keeping with the unique occasion the moment which defined the summer Olympics was one of shared joy rather than individual triumph.
When Qatar’s Mutaz Essa Barshim and Italy’s Gianmarco Tamberi chose to bin a jump-off and share gold (above) they showed that there is still room for comradeship even at the top of their sport. It was the first split athletics gold at the Games for 109 years.
FURY v WILDER: THE TRILOGY FIGHT
October 9
THERE may have been more technically pure title fights but for sheer willpower and drama the final part of the Fury-wilder trilogy took some beating.and so did Deontay Wilder.
It was a jaw-dropping contest and an electric night.
We already knew Tyson Fury had the heart of a lion – as well as a mouth the size of Morecambe Bay – butwilder’s bravery in taking the contest 11 brutal rounds was almost a danger to his own well-being.
It took a third visit to the canvas to finally count out the American.
THE GRANDEST OF GRAND NATIONALS
April 10
HORSE racing had a difficult year, what with Gordon Elliott’s ghoulish disgrace and the Robbie Dunne bullying and harassment hearing, but it also had a historic moment.
Rachael Blackmore, having been leading jockey at the Cheltenham Festival, became the first woman to win the Grand National in its 173 runnings on Minella Times.
While racing cannot yet claim to be an equal opportunities environment, Blackmore’s victory struck a huge blow for female jockeys. She did not want to make a big deal out of her gender but Ireland’s finest smashed a glass ceiling at Aintree.
FORMULA ONE’S BRAZILIAN
GRAND PRIX November 14
WAS it the greatest drive of Lewis Hamilton’s career? Quite probably.
Hamilton’s 80th victory for Mercedes was a classic of its kind, crowned when he finally picked off arch-rival Maxverstappen on lap 59.
To win from 10th place on the grid at Interlagos – after being relegated to last place for the sprint race for a rear wing infringement – showed what a consummate racer he is.
Hamilton can be a strange fish but when the odds are against him he can find something inside few others have.
His fightback from the dead in the drivers’ championship set up Formula One’s dramatic finale and Brazil was the season in miniature.
GOLF’S SOLHEIM CUP September 4-6
SILENCE is golden and the dumbstruck response of the American fans in Ohio as Europe retained the Solheim Cup in controversial circumstances represented mission accomplished for Catriona Matthew’s valiant underdogs (below).
The magnificent 15-13 win for Europe, only the second time they have done it on American soil, came after one of the fourballs saw Swede Madelene Sagstrom penalised for not allowing sufficient time to see whether a ball would drop into the hole.
Best not to mention the Ryder Cup...
ASHES FIRST TEST: THE OPENING BALL
December 8
ALL that build-up, all that hype and expectation and then... calamity.
Rory Burns’ dismissal by Mitchell Starc was the ultimate in statement starts by Australia and England’s worst nightmare made real at the Gabba.
It wasn’t even a good ball – a half-volley which Burns, overbalancing like a drunk on a dancefloor, allowed to cannon into his leg stump.
Burns has earned an unwanted form of immortality on the back of it. It will be a wicket that will be replayed from now until eternity ahead of every Ashes series.