Sporting superstars of 2024

Rodri

Manchester City midfielder Rodri was the cog that turns the wheel in the middle of the park as he became the first Premier League player since Cristiano Ronaldo in 2008 to win the Ballon d’Or.

Rodri enjoyed the standout season of his career in 2023-24, winning a fourth consecutive Premier League title and lifting the Euro 2024 trophy with Spain.

The 28-year-old won the Best Player award from the tournament in Germany last summer despite being forced off at half-time in the final against England.

Remarkably, Rodri also went 74 games - and 475 days - without experiencing defeat for club and country during the past year, with the run coming to an end in the FA Cup final against Manchester United in May.

The last time Rodri lost a Premier League game was a 1-0 defeat at Tottenham in February 2023. He is the first defensive midfielder to win the Ballon d’Or, stretching back to 1956, while he is the first Spaniard to do so since Luis Suarez of Barcelona in 1960.

Luke Littler

Luke Littler may not have become world champion at the start of 2024 but he is largely THE reason for darts’ big breakthrough over the last 12 months.

Littler’s run to the World Championship final was extraordinary and the final itself, which he lost to Luke Humphries, saw 4.8m people tune in - the highest-ever non-football audience for Sky Sports.

The teenager made his first televised nine-darter just a couple of weeks after the Worlds on his way to winning the Bahrain Darts Masters, before defeating Humphries at the end of the 17-week Premier League extravaganza. Oh, and Littler made another nine-darter in that final too.

Another PDC World Series title, this time in Poland, was followed with success at the Grand Slam of Darts and World Series of Darts Finals, which underlined that the two Lukes of Littler and Humphries are the players to beat at the oche.

Scottie Scheffler

Scottie Scheffler became a father, got arrested hours before a round of a major championship and still dominated the men’s game to enjoy a year of success not seen since a prime Tiger Woods.

He never relinquished the world No 1 spot during an impressive campaign, where he cruised to a five-shot victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and overcame injury to become the first back-to-back winner of The Players the following week.

A second Green Jacket in three years at The Masters was followed by winning the RBC Heritage the next Sunday, then Scheffler’s tied-eighth finish at the PGA Championship was made more remarkable by the fact he was arrested and charged by police outside Valhalla Golf Club ahead of his second round.

The charges were dropped later that month, with Scheffler going on to win the next two Signature Events - the Memorial Tournament and Travelers Championship - before securing gold for Team USA at the Paris Olympics and winning the PGA Tour's FedExCup for the first time in his career.

Scheffler’s next start after Tour Championship success was helping Team USA to victory in the Presidents Cup, while a successful title defence at the Woods-hosted Hero World Challenge was his ninth worldwide title of the year. The world’s best is going to take some stopping.

Khadija 'Bunny' Shaw

Manchester City star Khadija 'Bunny' Shaw has been smashing in goals for fun this year.

The Jamaican’s 21 goals and three assists in 18 Women’s Super League games last season put her team on the cusp of their first league title since 2016.

City will be thinking if Shaw had not been injured and missed the final three games of the season, would they have denied Chelsea the title, having lost out on goal difference after losing their penultimate game to Arsenal.

Shaw won the Golden Boot at a canter as she was eight goals clear of her nearest competitor Lauren James - all scored from open play.

That great form has continued into this season with Shaw scoring nine goals from 10 games before the WSL continues in mid-January.

It looks like another Chelsea versus City title fight is brewing and Shaw will play a pivotal role again.

Sifan Hassan

Sifan Hassan made more history in 2024 as her Olympics marathon gold meant she became the first woman to win gold in the 5,000 metres, 10,000 metres and marathon

The Ethiopia-born Dutch runner also won bronze in the 5,000m and 10,000m in Paris 2024, before beating Tigst Assefa in a thrilling finish in the marathon.

Women’s distance running has been enjoying a golden era over the last decade, but Hassan might just be the best of the lot.

Joe Root

Is Joe Root the best Test batter in the world? You decide if that is arguable or, as Michael Atherton believes, unquestionable, but he has certainly been the best in 2024 on pure run-scoring.

The England stalwart has racked up over 1,500 runs in the red-ball format in 2024 with six hundreds, five further half-centuries and a career-best 262 against Pakistan.

Root has soared past Sir Alastair Cook’s England records for runs scored and centuries made in a Test career, reaching 12,886 runs and 36 tons after impressing in New Zealand.

He turns 34 in late December but still looks fresh and hungry for more success and there has to be a chance that he topples Indian great Sachin Tendulkar (15,921) as the leading run-scorer in the history of Test cricket, having already risen as high as No 5 on that list.

The young pretender Harry Brook is peeling off runs for fun and threatening Root’s status as England’s greatest, even briefly displacing his fellow Yorkshireman at the top of the official ICC batting rankings, but, for now, Root remains England’s kingpin. And maybe even Test cricket’s.

Max Verstappen

Max Verstappen may not have set new wins records like he did in 2023, but his 2024 campaign showed why he is among F1’s all-time greats as he won a fourth consecutive world title – a feat only achieved by four other drivers Juan Manuel Fangio, Michael Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton.

After winning four of the opening five races, Red Bull suddenly lost car performance from the Miami Grand Prix onwards so Lando Norris became a serious threat.

Despite a car disadvantage for the majority of the season, Verstappen still picked up key points and podiums, plus brilliant wins in Imola, Canada, Spain and a rainy Brazil from 17th on the grid.

To further justify the class of Verstappen, Red Bull only finished third in the Constructors’ Championship. Not since 1982 has the world champion won for the third-placed constructor.

Patrick Mahomes

2024 as a year started with questions over the Kansas City Chiefs and their superstar quarterback, Patrick Mahomes.

A dismal Christmas Day defeat to their division rivals the Las Vegas Raiders was a fifth in eight games, leaving the reigning champions teetering at 9-6 on the year. Cue a run of 15 wins in a row, spanning the playoffs, taking in a fourth Super Bowl visit – and third title – in five seasons, plus a 9-0 start to their 2024 campaign.

Mahomes missed out on a third league MVP award to Lamar Jackson last year, while he is set to be overlooked again in 2024, with Saquon Barkley, Josh Allen and possibly Jackson again favoured over Mahomes, who is barely scraping into the league’s top 10 in both passing yards and touchdowns among quarterbacks this season.

BUT, this is a banged up Chiefs offense limping along without their usual array of offensive weapons to aid Mahomes’ genius – and one he has still rallied to a ninth-straight division title, a tally surpassed by only the great New England Patriots dynasty (2009-2019) of the 21st century.

Plus, Mahomes is at his best in the clutch. Just like when overcoming Kansas City’s losing run at the end of last year. They went on a run in January and, down by 10 points to the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl, he carried his team on his shoulders to a second-straight championship.

Now, Mahomes and the Chiefs are targeting a ‘three-peat’, something never before achieved in NFL history. Write him off at your peril.

Jannik Sinner

Jannik Sinner won the Australian and US Open titles in a breakthrough season for the Italian, just like Aryna Sabalenka did in the women's game.

In the Australian Open, Sinner became just the second player in the event’s history to win from two sets behind in a final as he stunned Daniil Medvedev.

Titles in Rotterdam, Miami, Halle and Cincinnati helped Sinner become the first Italian world No 1, then he won the US Open in September.

There has been controversy, though, as Sinner tested positive in March for the anabolic steroid clostebol, before being cleared in August by an independent tribunal who determined he was not to blame.

However, the World Anti-Doping Agency announced in September it was appealing against that decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and was seeking a ban of between one and two years for the Italian, who also won the Shanghai Masters and ATP Finals.

Nelly Korda

Nelly Korda was so dominant in 2024 that she had the LPGA Tour’s Player of the Year wrapped up with weeks to spare, while the world No 1’s rapid rise to sporting superstardom made waves both on - and off – the golf course.

Korda secured entry into the LPGA Hall of Fame with victory at the LPGA Drive On and went on to win on each of her next four starts, including the Chevron Championship – the opening women’s major of the year, making her the first player since 2005 to register five consecutive LPGA Tour titles.

Her growing profile saw Korda become the first golfer since Woods to be invited to the Met Gala, one of fashion's most prestigious events, while she continued her golfing success at the Mizuho Americas Open to claim a sixth LPGA Tour win in seven starts.

She bounced back from a disappointing summer to finish runner-up to Lydia Ko at the AIG Women's Open and feature in Team USA's first Solheim Cup victory over Europe since 2017 the following month, then overcame a neck injury to make a winning comeback on the LPGA Tour.

Korda is the first golfer since 2011 to win seven times on the LPGA Tour in a season where she felt like she had “nine lives”, with no player in the women’s game getting close to matching her achievements. 

Simone Biles

Simone Biles’ Olympics return was rewarded with three gold medals in the team, all-around and vault events.

Three years after struggling with “the twisties” - a temporary loss of air awareness while performing twisting elements – Biles was back at her best on the biggest stage.

The American had taken a break from gymnastics in 2022 but came back in the summer of 2023 and delivered under huge pressure in Paris.

Although she was unable to medal in the beam and floor, there are few sportspeople who can perform under the pressure Biles receives when she is performing.

Dame Sarah Storey

Cyclist Sarah Storey continued to rewrite the record books in 2024 after she won her 18th and 19th Paralympic golds.

Storey has 14 Paralympic golds in cycling to go with five in her previous event swimming, having first competed at the 1992 Games in Barcelona.

The 47-year-old repeated her road race and time trial double at the World Championships later in 2024, to cap off another memorable year. Remarkably, she has not ruled out continuing to the next Games in Los Angeles 2028.

Leon Marchand

France expected fireworks in the pool at Paris 2024 and that is exactly what they got when Leon Marchand won each individual event he entered, arguably making him the star of the Olympics.

First up was the 400m individual medley gold, then he made history by winning two golds in the same session with victory in the 200m butterfly and 200m breaststroke in the space of a few hours – an unprecedented double.

Marchand beat Britain’s Duncan Scott in the 200m individual medley, before helping France to a relay bronze on the last day of swimming at the Games.

Kevin Sinfield

Rugby league legend Kevin Sinfield continues to play a starring role in raising millions for the motor neurone disease (MND) community that included former Leeds Rhinos team-mate Rob Burrow, who passed away in June aged just 41.

The 44-year-old returned from his role as England men's rugby union defence coach in New Zealand to attend Burrow's funeral, with Sinfield describing his “little mate” and “dear friend” as the “toughest and bravest man” he had met.

Sinfield was awarded a CBE in the New Year Honours for services to MND awareness and has raised over £12m from his fundraising events since Burrow was first diagnosed, with the latest being a 7 in 7 in 7 challenge – running seven ultramarathons in seven days in December.

The 'running home for Christmas' campaign saw him start in Liverpool and visit seven regions of the UK, in recognition of the No 7 shirt that Burrow wore as a player, with Sinfield defying injury to complete the 230-mile run challenge and again help those impacted by the disease.

Oleksandr Usyk

Oleksandr Usyk beat Tyson Fury twice in 2024 to confirm himself as the best heavyweight boxer in the world.

In May, Usyk gave Fury his first professional defeat, making history as he became the undisputed heavyweight world champion, the first in 25 years since the reign of Lennox Lewis.

Fury said he was better prepared for December’s rematch and most boxing pundits had the British fighter as their winner.

However, Usyk had other ideas and produced another clinical display to win by unanimous decision, despite Fury’s camp thinking their man had won.

Derek Chisora, Daniel Dubois, Anthony Joshua twice, Tyson Fury twice – all beaten by Usyk, who has run rings around the heavyweight division like he did at cruiserweight.