Courage, grace, skill and
sheer power ... the greatest
individual performances
Sport
After Stokes’ sensational Ashes innings, our correspondents
select the most memorable moments they have witnessed
Athletics
David Rudisha
800m at London 2012
The 800 metres is a horrible event
sitting at the apex of speed and
endurance. It is meant to be
difficult. It should hurt. But in the
800m final at the London 2012
Olympics, the greatest middle-
distance runner in history made a
mockery of that. Rudisha (right)
produced something as close to
perfection as ever seen in athletics
- and he did so with grace and
beauty. The Kenyan led from the
gun and no one came close to
laying a finger on him. He turned
the race into one between him and
the clock. The result was a
mind-boggling 1 min 40.91 sec
world record, achieved in the most
serene, poetic manner.
Ben Bloom
Boxing
Tyson Fury
v Deontay Wilder
Los Angeles, December 2018
Fury had come back from
depression, spent two years in the
wilderness, and lost 10 stone in the
build-up to the fight (right) in
which the Briton took on the most
feared puncher in boxing’s blue
riband division. Fury had fought
just two journeymen following his
absence and few gave him a
chance. Yet he outboxed Wilder,
recovered from a ninth-round
knockdown, and then,
after being seemingly
knocked out in the final
round, rose miraculously
before referee Jack Reiss
could count him out, and
took the fight to the
American. The bout was
scored a split-decision
draw. Most observers had
Fury as the winner.
Gareth A Davies
Cycling
Chris Froome
Solo win in 2018
Giro d’Italia
Froome’s spectacular
attack over the Colle delle
Finestre on stage 19 of last
year’s Giro d’Italia flipped
the race on its head.
Froome (right) had
begun the day in fourth
place, 3 min 22 sec
behind long-time leader
and fellow Briton
Simon Yates. Nearly
every member of
Team Sky –
including team
principal Dave
Brailsford – was
stationed on the
route to hand Froome
bottles and gels,
helping the British rider
to attack solo from
80 kilometres out, dropping
not only Yates but danger
man Tom Dumoulin on the
27-hairpin climb. The
atmosphere at the finish in
Bardonecchia as Froome extended
his advantage on the run-in was
highly charged, not least because
the Briton was still battling to clear
his name following an adverse
analytical finding for asthma drug
salbutamol. Froome ended the day
leading the race by 40 seconds and
went on to become the Giro’s first
British winner three days later.
Tom CaryFootball
Lionel Messi
v Arsenal, 2010 Champions LeagueThere have been so many
moments of Messi magic that it is
difficult to pick one. But the way in
which the Argentine destroyed
Arsenal with four goals in the Nou
Camp took the breath away. You
almost had to feel sorry for
goalkeeper Manuel Almunia and
his defenders as they had no way
to cope with Messi (right). Indeed,
Almunia said afterwards: “You try
to anticipate what he is going to
do, but he can do whatever he
wants and at any moment. How do
you stop this kind of player?”
Matt LawGolf
Tiger Woods
2000 US OpenIt takes something spectacular to
divert the focus from the Pebble
Beach scenery, but at the 2000 US
Open, with his 15-shot triumph –
still the largest margin of victory in
159 years of major golf – Woods
managed to do so. On 12 under, the
then 24-year-old was the only
player under par and did not miss a
putt within 10 feet. Woods (left)
proceeded to win the next three
majors to become the only golfer
to hold all four titles at the same
time. Unrepeatable.
James Corriganh round
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8 *** Tuesday 27 August 2019 The Daily Telegraph
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