Team GB's 2024 Wrapped

Team GB 29 Dec 24

It has been a year of sporting masterclasses in 2024.

Highlighted by a summer Olympics just a hop across the Channel in Paris, there was also glittering success for British athletes on the World and European stage.

With plenty of sport to dive into, here, we break down the top moments throughout the year.

January

The year started off strong at the European Track Cycling Championships where Great Britain brought home a staggering 14 medals.

Emma Finucane achieved the rare feat of winning three medals, reaching the podium in the team sprint, alongside Katy Marchant and Sophie Capewell, individual sprint and keirin, while Josie Knight took the individual pursuit title by a margin of three-thousandths of a second.

The team pursuit quintet of Ethan Hayter, Charlie Tanfield, Ethan Vernon, Oliver Wood and Dan Bigham made a massive statement ahead of Paris with team pursuit gold, beating the Danish world champions; Bigham showing just how good his legs were with individual pursuit gold in a GB one-two with Tanfield.

In the water, Britain's women's water polo team finished a memorable seventh place at the European Championships to secure their spot on the world stage for the first time in over a decade, an 11-9 win over Croatia sealed the deal.

February

The World Aquatics Championships made historic headlines in February.

Tom Daley returned to the international scene with world championship gold in the 3-metre springboard alongside Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix.

In a similar theme, Adam Peaty was back on the world scene for this first time since 2019 with 100m breaststroke bronze after taking a break for this mental health in recent years.

More history in the pool came as Laura Stephens became the first British woman since Rebecca Adlington's 800m freestyle victory in 2011 to win world gold with 200m butterfly triumph.

In the open water, nearly two hours of gruelling racing came down to a touch and a margin of 0.30 seconds as Hector Pardoe snatched men's 10km world championship bronze.

It was Great Britain's first men's medal over the Olympic marathon swim distance since David Davies in 2008.

Kate Shortman and Izzy Thorpe's technical duet routine, inspired by Big Ben, made for a history-making moment in Doha as the duo soared to Great Britain's first-ever duet medal at a World Championships.

Away from the water, Emily Campbell claimed an unprecedented fourth successive European weightlifting title after injuries played havoc to her 2023.

March

Molly Caudery shone bright at the Indoor Athletics Championships, winning her first major title at just her second senior international.

The pole vaulter had already set a new world lead with a jump of 4.85m to win British indoor gold before adding her first world title.

She sealed the deal with a height of 4.80m, edging out Olympic bronze medallist Eliza McCartney and Olympic champion Katie Moon in the process.

It was part of a magical Saturday night in Glasgow, as Josh Kerr warmed up for the Olympics in style in front of the home crowd by powering to gold in the men's 3000m. Fellow Scot Jemma Reekie also delighted the Glaswegian crowd with silver in the 800m.

April

Bryony Page successfully defended her individual and synchronised trampolining European titles in Portugal.

The reigning world individual champion posted a score of 55.630, enough to claim victory in the individual event and show plenty of signs that even bigger things were to follow in Paris.

On the streets of the captial, Emile Cairess clocked the second-fastest ever marathon by a Briton at the 2024 London Marathon.

Battling the windy streets, Cairess took third in a personal best time of 2:06:46, the first time a Brit has finished on the podium since Mo Farah in 2018.

Success on the water came in bucket loads at the European Rowing Championships as Britain topped the table with a staggering five golds and one silver in Olympic boats.

It marked the beginning of a golden year for British Rowing as Helen Glover won her fifth European title in the women's four alongside Rebecca Shorten, Sam Redgrave and Esme Booth.

May

Athletics stars were collecting Paris 2024 relay quota places like infinity stones in the Bahamas in May.

British athletes ensured that Team GB would compete in all five athletics relay events at Paris 2024 after a storming performance at the World Relay Championships.

The result made Great Britain only one of two nations to clinch a clean sweep, joining the USA at the top of the qualification pool.

Just two months away from his return to the Olympic stage in Paris, Joe Clarke stormed to his first-ever kayak cross European title in Tacen.

Already a three-time world champion in the event, Clarke added another medal to his collection in Slovenia, winning gold ahead of Jan Rohrer from Switzerland and David Llorente from Spain.

June

Girl power was Great Britain's overarching theme at the 2024 European Athletics Championships.

A small but mighty team stormed to third in the medal table in Rome, with a staggering 10 of their 13 medals coming from women's individual and team events.

It had been six years since Dina Asher-Smith last stood on top of the European podium but she changed that narrative with a golden performance in Italy.

Asher-Smith's 100m semi-final run of 10.96s was the fastest recorded effort by a European at that point in the year and the Olympian backed it up with gold in the final.

Later in the week, Keely Hodgkinson successfully defended her 800m title despite a bout of illness. The 22-year-old led from the front and held on to victory in a time of one minute and 58.65 seconds.

There were also impressive silvers for Daryll Neita, Georgia Bell, Charlie Dobson and George Mills, while it was team gold in the women's half marathon, with Calli Hauger-Thackery taking individual bronze.

July and August

What more can we say about Paris 2024!

Team GB came back weighing down the Eurostar with 65 medals; 14 gold, 22 silver, and 29 bronze.

The pinnacle of our sporting year, to catch up on our 10 best moments of the Olympics, click here.

September

A month on from claiming his 1500m Olympic silver, Josh Kerr won the 5th Avenue Mile race in New York for a second consecutive year and smashed the 43-year-old course record.

The Scot came home in a time of 3:44.03 - more than three seconds faster than the previous best time set by Sydney Maree in 1981.

Elsewhere in New York, Paris 2024 debutant Jack Draper produced a stunning US Open run which saw him progress all the way to the semi-final stage - a lifetime best performance at a Grand Slam.

The 22-year-old also solidified his position as British number one by reaching the world's top 20 for the first time in his career.

Mountain biker Evie Richards, who finished fifth in Paris, delivered a ferocious performance at the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Andorra.

The 27-year-old timed her sprint to perfection to become short track world champion, beating Olympic champion Pauline Ferrand-Prevot to the title.

October

Continuing the cycling theme, British track cyclists produced a fantastic 2024 Tissot UCI Track World Championship campaign in Ballerup, securing a total of 13 medals.

Finucane once again stormed to double gold in Denmark, reclaiming her individual sprint title as well as clinching team sprint victory alongside her Paris 2024 teammates Capewell and Katy Marchant.

Gold also came for Anna Morris in the individual pursuit before she teamed up with Jess Roberts, Katie Archibald and Josie Knight for the team pursuit title.

World championship golds kept coming throughout the month as Alex Yee claimed his first world triathlon title.

Yee knew heading into the grand final in Torremolinos that he would be crowned champion if he could finish in the front six and he did so easily. The London native ended with a remarkable 4,070 points in the final rankings, taking the world title in the same year as the Olympic crown.

November

With the summer season dying down, it was time for winter sports to make their way onto the scene as Scotland clinched European curling silver and bronze.

Team Mouat eased through the round-robin stage, winning eight of their nine matches and squeezed past Switzerland in the semi-finals to set up a showdown with Germany in Lohja, Finland.

However it was the Germans who prevailed 9-7 in the showpiece to deny the defending champions Bruce Mouat, Hammy McMillan Jr., Bobby Lammie, and Grant Hardie a fifth gold.

There was further British success in Finland, as Team Jackson took bronze for Scotland on the women’s side.

Skip Sophie Jackson guided her side through the round-robin stage with six wins and three defeats, before a narrow defeat to Sweden meant they faced Italy for the bronze medal.

Jackson, alongside Rebecca Morrison, Sophie Sinclair and Beijing Olympian Jen Dodds rose to the challenge to see off their opponents 6-4 and seal their place on the podium.

December

A flurry of winter success rounded off an incredible year as Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson became the first British ice dance pair to medal at the Grand Prix Final.

The duo finished third at the Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final in Grenoble behind world champions Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the USA and European champions Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri of Italy.

On the ice, British skeleton athletes won their 13th World Cup medal this season to continue their fine form.

The team have already matched their best ever overall tally from the 2022/23 season, with plenty more opportunities to reach the podium in the new year.

While snowboard history-maker Mia Brookes claimed her first ever World Cup win with Big Air gold in Beijing.

Sportsbeat 2024

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