The alternative 2024 sports awards: quotes, gaffes and animal cameos

The best and worst of 2024 – featuring Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the war on woke and the happiest 34 seconds of the yearKeeper Lewis Patching – saying sorry in March after signing on loan for Rushden & Diamonds, conceding four, headbutting a fan in the bar and being sacked on the same day. “I was disappointed how the game panned out … I’d like to apologise and wish the club/supporter all the best moving forward.”Chris Wilder – setting out his red lines after Sheffield United’s loss at Palace in January. “It’s a ridiculous performance from the officials. I went to see the referee and I’ve told him that

Paris Olympics were great, so why not hold summer Games every two years? | Sean Ingle

We are knee-deep in Twixmas: that twilight zone between Christmas and new year, excess and reflection, lists and yet more lists. Over the past week there have been many saluting the best sporting moments of 2024. Yet across the globe there is one constant: these lists are dominated by a Paris Olympics seared into the memory. Nothing else came close.Pick your day, relive the moment

Sammi Kinghorn: ‘I told my dad I was OK with never winning gold’

Wheelchair racer on happy Paralympics memories and how disability sport can capitalise off the post-Games buzz “My ambition now is the same as it’s always been: get faster,” says Sammi Kinghorn. “I still feel I can. I know there’s little changes in technology I can use, other things I need maybe to look at. The day when you don’t think you can get any faster is the day you say: ‘OK, I’m done.’”Kinghorn, for most people, is rapid enough already

Tom Jenkins’ best sport photographs of 2024

It’s been quite a year, and one totally dominated by the “big three”: the men’s Euros in Germany and the Olympics and Paralympics in Paris. This a personal selection of my favourite pictures, a few of which haven’t been published before. Some have been chosen for their news value; others are here because there’s a nice tale behind them.Lens 24mm, 1/1600, f2.8, ISO 5000My year began just up the hill from my house, documenting the amazing rise of Luke Littler

Australia gamble pays off as India collapse late in all-time classic Boxing Day Test

In the end, the dice landed the right way up for the shooter. Had India managed to bat for another hour, another 14 overs, Australia’s tactics would have been sliced up: too conservative in batting into the final day. But Australia’s gamble was about laying off risk on the other half of the equation, all but eliminating India’s chance of a win at the cost of reducing their own. In the end, this time, it worked, when Nathan Lyon snagged the 10th wicket just before half past five Melbourne time; Australia winning the fourth Test and leading 2-1 before the series ends in Sydney.It was, in the end, a close-run thing, a reminder that you’re often only vindicated in the sporting business if you happen to guess right

Australia v India: fourth men’s cricket Test, day five – as it happened

Here’s Geoff Lemon’s report from day five of an incredible Boxing Day Test at the MCG.Australia have won an all-time classic Test, taking seven wickets in the final session at the MCG to defeat India by 184 runs and go 2-1 up in the Border-Gavaskar series. In front of a record overall attendance for a Test in Australia of 373,691, the hosts had to get past India’s defiant star opener Yashasvi Jaiswal (84 from 208), who was dramatically dismissed by Pat Cummins.Veteran spinner Nathan Lyon (2 for 39), who has struggled during this series, took the final wicket with 39 minutes left and 12 overs remaining to seal an extraordinary win. India went to tea at 112 for three, seemingly set to hold on for a draw, but Cummins (3 for 28), Scott Boland (3 for 39), Lyon, and even Travis Head (1 for 14), contributed with the ball in the final session to trigger a collapse of 43 for 7